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Finding victims

A study by global information and insights company TransUnion showed that 18 percent of suspected digital fraud attempts, which includes online forums and dating websites, originated from the Philippines for the first half of the year. This is the highest percentage among 19 countries surveyed, representing a whopping 35 percent increase from last year.

Cyberfraud refers to malicious activities launched online to trick users into revealing their personal information, which criminals can use for financial gain.

The recent customer pulse study for the second quarter found that 70 percent of Filipinos were being targeted through email, online, phone calls, or text messaging.

Phishing continues to be the top modus in finding victims. Other common methods include smishing or sending fake text messages, money and gift card scams, third party seller scams on legitimate e-commerce sites, vishing or voice phishing, identity theft, money mule, and account takeover.

“The latest findings from TransUnion reveal that despite the good-faith efforts by global and local organizations to identify and prevent fraud, fraudsters continue to evolve and it’s vital that fraud prevention methods keep up with the changing times,” Yogesh Daware, chief commercial officer at TransUnion Philippines, said.

“With rising community fraud rates in the Philippines aligning with global findings, there is a need to focus efforts on educating consumers about these types of attacks and disseminating preventing measures that consumers and businesses can take to protect themselves from falling victim,” Daware added.

It always takes two to tango, and as long as there are willing victims, there will be fraudsters who will try different ways of taking money from others through deception and guile. Education and awareness will be key if less Filipinos are going to be the targets of these criminals, and considering the size of our population and our gullibility, there is certainly a lot of work to be done on that end.*

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