Text scams are prevalent again. And this has been a recurring problem that has not been addressed squarely by concerned government agencies and telecommunications companies. With the economic downturn brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, scammers are finding it convenient to exploit the vulnerability of the public, mostly jobless individuals who are offered bogus jobs. Some scam messages come in the form of warnings about problems with bank accounts. With a sense of urgency, victims are lured into clicking links where scammers would eventually gain access to sensitive information. But all that the government has done is warn the public about the scam and urged mobile phone subscribers to be careful. Telcos, on the other hand, reported having blocked millions of suspected text scams. But these moves have not served as a deterrent against these unscrupulous activities. The fact is, scammers have even levelled up. They have gone as far as addressing the recipient of the spam text messages with his or her name. Where on earth have these scammers gotten these names? Most likely, there is data leak somewhere. This is very alarming as it appears that the privacy of mobile phone subscribers is now compromised. No less than Supreme Court Associate Justice Marvic Leonen is alarmed by the situation. “Unsolicited or scam text messages on our phones already contain our names. This means that there is a data provider out there that has leaked or sold or been careless about our information. This makes all of us now vulnerable. Very dangerous,” Leonen said in a tweet on Aug. 30. Leonen’s Twitter post has already garnered over 3,000 retweets and more than 9,000 likes as of Thursday morning. With this alarming situation, the government – the National Privacy Commission, the National Telecommunications Commission, and other concerned agencies – and the telcos should do more. They have to go to the bottom of the problem. The warnings and blocking of scam messages are steps in the right direction but not enough to stop or at least control the unscrupulous activities. They have to unmask the scammers and those behind the data leak, then see to it that they are prosecuted, with the full extent of the law thrown at them. These may be easier said than done. But the government and the telcos have to do it if they are to protect the interest of the public. Unless these scammers and those behind the data leak are punished, we don’t expect these unscrupulous activities to taper off.