20 May 2010

What can Globe do with crimes committed through their cell phone system?

Fraud through SMS is widespread. And pity those who have been targeted by fraudsters who seem to know them (victims) personally. Especially if the victims are old ladies who do not have anyone to protect them at that instant when the crime occurs. How evil can people get because of greed?

Take for instance this situation. A text message was sent to an old lady, and the sender acted as if he/she was the child of this woman. And the language used was their own dialect, using the nickname of the child known only to family and friends. Demanding for load for both Globe and Smart, using a Globe number. The fraudster said he/she has started a cell phone load business and needed the load for that number. And promised that he/she would send the old lady the money to pay her back. And this poor old lady, really thinking it was from one of her kids, obediently went to buy cell phone cards, scratched the cards, and sent the pin numbers by text. She had to go buy the cards on credit even. And the fraudster kept demanding her to be quick about it. Until the following day when the fraudster let his/her guard down by sending text using another language. Maybe they got too excited with their haul. That was when the old lady suspected that maybe she was being duped. And she started verifying and asking and to make the long story short, realized that she had been cheated by this fraudster using a Globe number.

So back to the title of this write-up: What can Globe do with crimes committed through their cell phone system?

Their 24 hour call center 211 could not be reached.

NTC offices are just open during office hours; there is no 24 hour service.

Their Globe Chat Assistant had no access to trace the location of the number. But at least they were able to temporarily disconnect the number. They suggested to file a report with the nearest NTC.

Nowhere in the Globe website does it say anything about fraud and what to do when this and similar other things happen to their users. If it is there it is not easily seen.

But what was really needed was information on how to recover the pin numbers sent to that Globe cell phone number in order to recover the money spent on it.

How can senior citizens be protected from all these wrong-doings by people who might even be people known to them, could be their neighbors or relatives or people whom they trust? What can our government do for them?

So what can Globe do with crimes committed through their cell phone system?

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