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Scammable?

The “2024 Asia Scam Report” released by the nonprofit organization Global Anti-Scam Alliance (GASA), which surveyed nearly 25,000 participants across 13 markets in the region, found that each Filipino lost on average P16,000 to online fraud, with about 39 percent of 1,000 Filipinos in the poll, majority in the 18 to 24 age range, having been victims of a racket, with only 3 percent having been able to recover their losses.

Across Asia, the repo said that identity theft is the most common scam in China, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam, while investment fraud dominates the cases in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Pakistan. For the Philippines and India, shopping scams are prevalent.

The report also noted that online scams are increasing in the country, with 67 percent of Philippine respondents saying they had dealt with scams at least once a month and half admitting that they encountered more fraud in the past 12 months.

Four out of every five scams tricked victims into clicking website links sent via text messages that usually offer deals that are too good to be true. The fake websites collect sensitive and personal information such as financial account details, phone numbers, and addresses – data needed by hackers to take over bank accounts and e-wallets.

Despite SIM registration, text messaging is still a common method used by scammers to lure victims, so efforts by government to crack down further on the illegal use of SIM certainly needs more determination and effort.  On the flip side, is the consumer who has to be taught discipline and discernment, especially when faced with offers from unverified sources that are simply too good to be true. Just 41 percent of the respondents said they double checked the legitimacy of the website link embedded on the messages to ensure they don’t fall victim to scams, after having their judgment clouded by greed.

Any or all efforts by the government designed to thwart scammers, including SIM registration, still ultimately relies on the better judgment of potential victims for most scams to be consummated. Despite being told repeatedly that any offer that is too good to be true is most likely a scam, and that the offer has to be acknowledged and accepted by clicking a link and entering the personal information needed to complete the scam, many of us still succumb to the temptation and knowingly participate.

If Filipinos don’t want to be the target of scammers, we have to make it harder for them to succeed. Government can only do so much. The rest is up to us.*

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February 2025
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