ILOILO City – As the subscriber identity module (SIM) card registration deadline draws near, scammers are in a hurry to victimize more people.
Engr. Elmer D. Prudente, chief of the Technical Operations Division of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Region 6, said it is important to educate mobile users to have their SIM cards registered because it is very helpful against scammers.
“Amo ni subong nagadamo kay lapit na ang deadline sang registration… kon tapos na ang registration, wala na na sila, ihaboy lang na (SIM card) nila kay indi na mapuslan,” said Prudente.
Engr. Gymeo Sollano, DICT-6 chief administrative officer, said SIM card registration is one way to totally eradicate scams.
The DICT-6 officers’ reminders came in line with the celebration of the National ICT Month this June. This year’s celebration is centered on the theme “Connecting Communities, Enriching Lives, Forging a Digital Future for the Philippines.”
The overarching goal of this theme is to encourage Filipinos to embrace the digital transformation era by promoting innovation, collaboration, impact, and inclusivity.
DICT-6 has prepared series of month-long activities to mark the celebration.
On the other hand, John Michael Lagos, Information Systems Researcher III, emphasized that awareness on cybersecurity is very important especially in empowering the community against scammers and hackers.
He admitted that the DICT and even other government agencies could not easily intervene when there are cases of hacking involving private companies because it is their database and they do not have the access.
“That is why when it comes to, pati man sa PNP (Philippine National Police) Cybercrime, medyo critical man sya, that is why we also invest on awareness. We can have developmental approach wherein we can establish sang community nga mangin aware sila sa nagakatabu sa internet, nga may mga fake accounts,” said Lagos.
He stressed that technology is always evolving.
“Ang evolution sang technology medyo madasig… We need to invest on cybersecurity kay the more we are going to the future, the more important ang aton data. As part sang amon activities gina-push gid namon ang cybersecurity awareness para ang mga persons nga gagamit sang internet mabal-an nila kon ano nga mga website ang dapat sudlan,” he added./PN
