Detectors can help catch IMSI catcher deployers

GLOBE Telecom Inc. donated on Tuesday three international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) catcher detectors to government law enforcement agencies on Tuesday, marking what officials described as a major escalation in the joint public-private campaign against mobile network spoofing scams that have cost Filipino consumers millions of pesos in losses.

- LORENZ S. MARASIGAN

The devices, turned over to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC), and the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), can detect the presence of rogue base stations—commonly known as IMSI catchers—within a 50-meter radius, enabling law enforcement to narrow down the physical location of scam operators far more precisely than before.

"Criminal syndicates used IMSI catchers as a ghost in their machine, hijacking the privacy of our citizens," CIDG Chief of Staff Joselito Esico said at the turnover ceremony. "Today, that ends. We are no longer just acting—we are hunting."