Smart and Sun wants to protect you from load scams this Christmas

Christmas is a season of generosity and cheer, but it’s also the time of year when scammers work double-time to trick people into parting with their hard-earned money – or in the case of mobile phone users, their precious load or airtime credits.

This is why wireless services leader Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) and Sun Cellular continue to institute measures to prevent Pasaload and Give-A-Load scam incidents, the most common complaints reported by subscribers.

To protect subscribers, Smart and Sun now require them to confirm Pasaload and Give-A-Load requests to make sure they are aware that they are making the transactions.

If Smart and Talk ‘N Text subscribers text the Pasaload syntax (Mobile number Amount) to 808, Smart sends an SMS informing them that they are about to transfer load to another person. Load will only be transferred once the subscribers reply YES to the message within 15 minutes.

If Sun subscribers text the Give-A-Load syntax (Amount Mobile Number) to 2292, Sun will also send them a confirmation message. If they fail to reply YES within 15 minutes, the transaction request will expire and the load will not be transferred.

If Smart, Talk ‘N Text, and Sun subscribers wish to transfer load without going through the confirmation process, they can simply use new service keywords. For Smart and Talk ‘N Text, they only need to text PASALOAD mobile number of recipient amount to 808. For Sun, they have to text GIVE amount mobile number to 2292.

The keywords were included to emphasize that the transactions are for PasaLoad and Give-A-Load.

They are also encouraged to report scam attempts and incidents to the company by calling hotline *888 using their mobile phone or sending a message to the @smartcares Twitter account. They may also report scammers to the National Telecommunications Commission’s One Stop Public Assistance Center by calling 9213521 or 9267722, or sending an email to ospac@ntc.gov.ph