The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) disowned the TikTok promotion message received by mobile users on Thursday, September 8.
The text shows a load promo that allows subscribers to use TikTok for P50. It also contains a suspicious link bearing the initials of a telecommunications company.
Hello po @NDRRMC_OpCen . Pls check at baka na-hack. pic.twitter.com/wUUHuaJGfG
— Mahar Lagmay (@nababaha) September 8, 2022
“The message did not come from the NDRRMC,” NDRRMC spokesperson and Office of Civil Defense Assistant Secretary Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV said in a text message to Interaksyon.
He said the telecommunication services are investigating the incident.
“We have called the attention of our telco service providers about this item, and they are conducting an investigation at their end,” Bernardo said.
Over the recent weeks, there were also several reports of text scams. Some of which are personalized and bore the names of recipients.
These reports raised concerns about data privacy breach.
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The National Privacy Commission has conducted an investigation into the matter.
Its initial probe found that the recent cases of smishing messages were sent via phone-to-phone transmissions and not through data aggregators.
RELATED: NPC probes unsolicited SMS texts with full names of receivers
Senate also launched an investigation to identify culprits behind large-scale phishing scams where millions of text messages have been sent to mobile users to try and steal passwords for fraudulent transactions.
The country’s two biggest telecom providers have said they blocked more than 1 billion spam and suspicious text messages this year.
PLDT and Globe assured their combined 156 million mobile subscribers that cybercriminals have not breached their security systems.
