Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda thinks that the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) should open a dedicated hotline for those victimized by mobile text scams, or “smishing".
The House Committee on Information and Communications Technology held a committee hearing with NBI representatives on Wednesday, Sept. 14. During the hearing, Salceda asked if the agency had channels through which citizens could forward complaints.
“Meron ba tayong isang numero na matatawagan ng publiko kung saan pwede sila magreklamo (Is there a number the public can call if they have a complaint)? 1-800-SCAM, or something?” Salceda quipped.
The NBI then said that the public could forward their queries to the NBI website and via their hotline, 523-8231.
Feeling the need for a more "catchy" hotline, Salceda then jokingly put forward his own suggestion as to what the NBI could use as its hotline.
“Nandito naman yung tatlo, Smart, Dito, at tsaka Globe, bigyan nyo nga ng iisa yan (Smart, Dito, and Globe ar here, give the NBI a number). 69 madaling maalala (its easy to remember), can you reserve the number 69 for all complaints with respect to digital scams?” the lawmaker said, tongue-in-cheek.
The number 69 is usually linked to green jokes.
Smart telecom’s Vice President and Head of Regulatory Affairs Roy Ibay, Globe telecom’s Head of Policy Division Ariel Tubayan, and DITO telecom’s Policy Manager Kenneth Sentillas were present at the hearing.
All three telecom companies agreed to work with the NBI to address the matter.