MANILA – Scammers may no longer hide from the shadows of their unwanted and dubious text messages.
This is because starting Wednesday, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) will already be able to identify them as the mandatory registration of the Subscriber Identity Module or SIM expires at exactly 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, July 25.
DICT Secretary Ivan John Uy said the public may report to them text scams they will receive from July 26.
“Yes, file the complaint and we will know who sent it. We can file a case or complaint,” Uy said in an interview over DZBB.
Republic Act No. 11934, otherwise known as the SIM Registration Act, aims to curb electronic communication-aided crimes like mobile phishing and text spams. The law was enacted in October 2022.
Data from the DICT showed that of the more than 160 million SIMs nationwide, 105,260,340 have already registered as of July 23.
Specifically, 48,019,084 subscribers of Globe Telecom; 49,740,428 subscribers of Smart Communications, and 7,500,828 subscribers of Dito Telecommunity have registered their SIMs before the July 25 deadline.
Pursuant to RA 11934, all mobile phone and data subscribers are required to register their SIMs with their respective telco provides.
The law’s implementing rules and regulation states that failure to register will result in automatic deactivation of a user’s SIM. The deactivated SIM may only be reactivated after registration provided that reactivation will be made not later than five days after the automatic deactivation. (Charie Abarca © Philippine Daily Inquirer)
