The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) on Monday ordered the deactivation of domains and Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) that have been identified and validated to be linked to malicious text messages being sent to the public by fraudsters.

In a Memorandum dated 12 September 2022, the NTC directed telcos Dito Telecommunity Corporation, Globe Telecom, Inc., and Smart Communications, Inc. “to block or deactivate domains or Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), TinyURLs, Smart Links, and/or QR Codes emanating from malicious sites based on existing database culled from government agencies such as the National Telecommunications Commission, National Privacy Commission, Department of Trade and Industry, law enforcement agencies, subscriber reports and those generated from machine learning or artificial intelligence.”

URLs are the links included in text scams and illicit spam messages where recipients are baited by scammers to click which then directs the victim to a fake website or initiates the fraud process by some malicious scheme or another.

Once deactivated or blocked, recipients who click on these fraudulent links will no longer be able to access the site online, NTC noted.