Globe Telecom Inc. blocked 4.07 million malicious bank-related messages in the first quarter of 2023, the company announced Wednesday, May 10. The figure is 2.7 percent higher than the 3.97 million blocked in the same period last year. “Malicious activities such as identity theft, phishing, and spam messages can severely impact consumers and major stakeholders in various industries, especially the financial sector," says Globe Chief Information Security Officer Anton Bonifacio. Over 12 months, Globe blocked 85 million bank-related spam and scam messages amid its strengthened crackdown against fraudsters. This was part of the record-high 3 billion scam and spam messages filtered out between January 2022 and January 2023. "Through our partnership with the banking industry, we hope to enhance our efforts in tackling cybercrime for the consumers' safety and security,” Bonifacio noted. Globe signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP) last August to address the rising volume of financial crimes. The partnership paved the way for Globe and BAP member banks to share data and intelligence for enhanced fraud detection and prevention. Last month, Globe also inked an agreement with the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) as part of its commitment to work with banks against online fraud. The agreement allows both parties to have a direct and round-the-clock communication channel to report any fraudulent activity for immediate investigation and blocking. Aside from the partnership with banks and financial institutions, Globe continues to invest in tools and launching channels to streamline spam and scam SMS reporting both internally and externally, Already, it has invested $20 million to step up its spam and scam SMS detection and blocking system. Its round-the-clock Security Operations Center filters out unwanted messages, including app-to-person and person-to-person SMS from international and domestic sources.