According to the 2023 Asia Scam Report of the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC), the Philippines has the highest rate of online shopping scams among 11 economies surveyed, at 35.9 percent.
The 2023 Asia Scam Report released at the 1st Anti-Scam Asia Summit in Taipei was published by GASA and Gogolook and was based on data collected from nearly 20,000 respondents across 11 economies in Asia – China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Shopping scams were one of the nine mainstream fraud scenarios and techniques used by online scammers identified in the economies surveyed. Other scams included identity theft, investment scam, government/bank scam, job scam, lottery scam, family/relatives scam, bill payment scam, and charity scam.
CICC executive director Alexander Ramos reiterated his appeal to the public to be careful when they do their online shopping, especially during the Yuletide season, as that is when shopping scams usually increase.
Based on the report, 24.8 percent of Filipino victims respond too quickly to scammers’ demands while 21.1 percent of victims choose to take a risk despite uncertainty. Other reasons for vulnerability include being enticed with incentives and over trusting friends and family members.
The CICC appealed to the public to call the hotline 1326 if they are victims of shopping scams and other cybercrimes.
As online shopping has become an indispensable part of modern living, so have its weaknesses been exploited by unscrupulous individuals and groups to take advantage of those who can be victimized by various scams that may sound new but are actually just variants of older rackets that have already been deployed in the past. This is the warning we have to keep in mind as we delve into the digitalization of the world. Whether online or not, scammers have always been there.
Technology may have progressed by leaps and bounds, but it is still on us to always keep our guards up, especially when faced with deals that are too good to be true. Because more often than not, if something looks too good to be true, it usually isn’t.*
