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Privacy watchdog seeks Hong Kong help as SMS scams link to sites in territory

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Warren de Guzman, ABS-CBN News

<p>MANILA - The Philippines’ privacy watchdog on Tuesday said it has reached out to its counterpart in Hong Kong after SMS scams or smishing attacks were traced to websites in the Chinese territory. </p><p>The National Privacy Commission said it has asked Hong Kong’s Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data to help in its probe into the smishing attacks that have recently become “personalized.” </p><p>Roren Marie Chin, Chief of the NPC’s Public Information and Assistance Division said many of the links lead to online gambling and crypto trading sites which are based in Hong Kong. </p><p>“Sumulat na po kami sa Hong Kong, sa counterpart ng NPC sa Hong Kong naman na jurisdiction, para tulungan kami to reach out at makausap ang mga entities na connected sa mga links.” </p><p>(We have written to the NPC’s counterpart in Hong Kong to ask for their help in reaching out and talking to the entities connected to the links.)</p><p>She said they are still waiting for the Hong Kong agency to respond. </p><p>Using personalized scam texts featuring the names of prospective victims, cybercriminals herd their prey into these sites where they are encouraged to register and set up their own trading or gambling accounts. </p><p>During the registration process, the cybercriminals gain access to the private data of their victims, which they can then use to infiltrate bank accounts, e-wallets, social media, and emails.</p><p>The NPC has also ordered the online gambling and Bitcoin trading websites to explain their involvement in the smishing attacks. </p><p>These latest developments come after the NPC met with the Philippine National Police, the National Bureau of Investigation, and the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordination Center Tuesday morning. Also present were representatives of telecoms companies DITO, Globe, and Smart. </p><p>Chin said they will continue to coordinate with law enforcement agencies as well as the telcos for a speedy resolution to the matter. For now, they will wait for the comprehensive reports of the three telcos on their number and SMS blocking activities. The reports were ordered last September 8, and the telcos were given 10 days to comply</p><p>Meanwhile, the National Telecommunications Commission has ordered the three telcos to block all clickable links and URLs, and even QR codes found in targeted smishing text messages. </p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/09/13/22/ntc-orders-telcos-to-deactivate-clickable-links-in-malicious-texts">NTC orders telcos to deactivate clickable URLs, links in malicious texts</a></li></ul><p>In March the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas ordered bank and non-bank financial institutions to stop using clickable links in their text blasts and email campaigns to make it easier for their customers to differentiate between legitimate promotional messages and scam texts.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/10/07/21/public-warned-vs-smishing-urged-to-block-unknown-numbers">Privacy body warns vs &#x27;smishing,&#x27; urges public to block unknown numbers</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/01/18/22/bsp-strengthens-fight-vs-cyber-fraud-shares-e-safety-tips-to-protect-consumers">BSP strengthens fight vs cyber fraud; shares e-safety tips to protect consumers</a></li></ul><p>RELATED VIDEO</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pROJt09oA7s?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div><div> </div>

The Philippines’ privacy watchdog has reached out to its counterpart in Hong Kong after SMS scams were traced to websites in the Chinese territory. 

Privacy watchdog seeks Hong Kong help as SMS scams link to sites in territory

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Privacy watchdog seeks Hong Kong help as SMS scams link to sites in territory

Warren de Guzman,

ABS-CBN News

Published Sep 13, 2022 08:27 PM PHT

Read More:

Smishing

Quishing

Phishing

Scams

Cybersecurity

SMS scams

online gambling

crypto trading

Hong Kong

NPC

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