The National Privacy Commission said on Saturday it is facing difficulties in going after text scammers as these are now utilizing “text aggregators.”

The NPC said messages are sent through an aggregator’s clients, such as online applications.

Aggregators can have access to a list of telecommunication companies where they can send these messages.

NPC Deputy Commissioner Leandro Angelo Aguirre said this is the reason the NPC mounted another probe into these text messages.

“Aggregators have a list of telcos that they can use for sending SMS. If you are a company, you can use the aggregator’s platform and they will push the messages to the telcos,” Aguirre said.

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The official said this “application to phone” messaging, instead of “phone-to-phone messaging,” is difficult to “solve.”

He said an aggregator can use mobile applications such as Agoda or Booking.com to push the said texts through the telcos.

Aguirre text…said identifying aggregators can be easier compared to the previous sources of spam such as SIM cards, which supposedly have sender IDs.

Messages sent to aggregators could be located and authorities could also find out their clients, the official said, but added the problem has become global.

Another possible source of scams is that the aggregators’ official accounts or platforms might have been hacked or compromised, Aguirre said.

“What can happen is that a message with a sender ID identifies XYZ company. This does not automatically mean that the message from XYZ company is fake. There is a possibility that the official account of XYZ company has been compromised,” he said.

The official said the NPC can then check the source or the aggregator which sent the message.