The National Telecommunications Commission has ramped up its drive against text scams by releasing on Saturday a set of instructions for the public to follow to avoid being victimized by fraudulent message senders.

Dubbed "NTC Kontra Text Scam", the information campaign urges Filipino phone users to follow four easy steps. The first is the identification of a text scam.

"If you receive a text message coming from an unknown mobile number that contains, among others, a job offer and/or promises cash/"pabuya"/discounts which may contain a clickable weblink, this is a text scam message," the NTC said.

The second step is for phone users to disregard the text message.

"Once you suspect the message as a text scam, ignore this by not replying to the message and by not clicking the weblink, if any," the NTC added.

The next steps are to report, and then block and delete.

"Take a screenshot of the text scam message with the mobile number of the sender and report to the NTC. Once reported to the NTC, immediately block the number and delete the text scam message," said the NTC.

The text scams can be reported to the NTC in two ways — first is to submit the following information by e-mail at kontratextscam@ntc.gov.ph — the user's complete name, address, email and contact number; the complained cellphone number; a screenshot of the text scam message with the sender's mobile number; and a photo of your government-issued IDs.

The NTC emphasizes that personal data will be kept strictly confidential in accordance with the Data Privacy Act.

The second way is by using the NTC's website https://ntc.gov.ph, with the following instructions: click on the Text Scam Complaints button found in the main page; fill out the details in the Text Scam Complaints Form; and click the Submit button.

For any additional queries or clarifications, phone users may call the NTC's Consumer Hotline numbers: +632 8920 4464, +632 8926 7722 and +632 8921 3251. Calls made to the NTC Consumer Hotline numbers will be entertained from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday.