In order to prevent fraud, Globe Telecom Inc. has added a new 24-hour data verification feature to its SIM registration platform. 

“With improved verification, Globe will be able to immediately weed out fraudulent submissions and avoid issues we had to confront in the first year of SIM Registration, including the use of fake IDs and fraudulent information. Our goal is to complete validation within 24 hours, and we’ll continue to fine-tune our solution as we test out this process,” said Globe Group General Counsel Atty. Froilan Castelo. 

The new feature is in addition to Globe’s existing Optical Character Recognition feature, which cross-references IDs and forms submitted by applicants, and the required selfie to verify ID photos. 

The company also said that it has begun reviewing its entire SIM registration data covering around 61.4 million users to date. 

This verification process is expected to be completed within next year. 

"In light of red flags that law enforcement authorities raised on the vulnerabilities of telcos’ SIM registration platforms, this stringent review aims to retroactively remove  questionable submissions. With this step and our improved verification for all future submissions, our goal is to ensure the integrity of SIM registration data,” said Castelo. 

Globe currently conducts security measures such as SMS and SIM blocking, and a 24-hour Security Operations Center, as well as partnerships with banks and other financial institutions to curb SIM-related fraudulent activities. 

From January to November this year, Globe has blocked 5.31 billion spam and scam SMS, along with more than 208,000 SIMs due to fraud links, 200,686 blacklisted SIMs, and 7,403 deactivated SIMs. 

Previously, Globe called on the national government to allow telecommunication companies to access its government ID databases to make verification processes more efficient.