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Leading digital solutions platform Globe and one of the Philippines’ major banks, the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC), have signed a Memorandum of Agreement signifying their commitment to work together against online fraud. The agreement allows each party to have a direct and round-the-clock communication channel to report any fraudulent activities for immediate investigation and blocking. This is to help address the increasing volume and complexity of financial crimes, identity theft, phishing, SMS spam, and other similar scams and other forms of fraud. These malicious activities severely impact consumers and major stakeholders in telecommunications, e-commerce, finance, and other industries. The partnership is aligned with Globe’s MoU with the Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP) which aims to enhance the joint capability of Globe and RCBC to investigate and respond to incidents related to financial scams and fraud, as well as develop proactive measures to prevent further incidents and their escalation. This is expected to promote a more integrated and collaborative approach to information and intelligence sharing and incident reporting. "Our collaboration with RCBC will enable us to take proactive measures to prevent spam and scams from occurring and strengthen our capabilities to investigate and respond to such incidents. Our commitment to fighting fraud remains strong, and we will continue to work with other institutions and stakeholders to protect our customers from fraudulent activities," said Globe Chief Privacy Officer Irish Salandanan-Almeida. “Our partnership with Globe is aligned with our advocacy to educate the public about cybersecurity and is a major step towards enhancing our capabilities in fraud detection and prevention, and customer protection. Having direct coordination will boost our efforts against fraud. We look forward to working together to keep accounts safe and mitigate other cybersecurity threats,” said RCBC Chief Information Security Officer Carlos Tengkiat. The partnership with RCBC is part of Globe’s long-going efforts to work with major commercial banks and online retailers in the country to quell fraud, particularly scam and spam SMS. As a result of its intensified crackdown against fraudsters, Globe blocked 85 million bank-related spam and scam messages from January 2022 to January 2023, part of the record high of 3 billion scam and spam messages filtered out within the same period. Since the transition towards a digital marketplace expands through digital products and services, it also creates a wider terrain for attackers to target non-assuming digital users. This prompted Globe to strengthen measures to protect its customers. The company has launched various initiatives to address growing threats brought about by spam and scam SMS, including the #StopSPAM portal , where customers may report these unwanted messages. Aside from investing in tools and launching channels to streamline spam and scam SMS reporting both internally and externally, Globe has spent about $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. Globe also regularly provides customers with relevant information via social media advisories about fraud, cybersecurity, and data privacy to boost awareness and help them protect themselves against these threats.