MANILA – Fraudulent communications, including scam texts and calls, reached alarming levels in the Philippines in 2024, with over 6 million scam text messages and more than 600,000 scam calls recorded.
According to a media briefing held Wednesday (15 Jan 2025) by the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) and tech firm Gogolook, these figures highlight a growing trend of scam activities each quarter.
The data, collected through the Whoscall mobile app, revealed that a total of 6,157,517 scam SMS messages and 610,688 scam calls were recorded in the Philippines last year.
The frequency of scam calls steadily increased throughout 2024, with Whoscall logging 108,157 calls in the first quarter. This number grew to 135,535 by the second quarter, 165,236 by the third quarter, and a significant 201,760 by the fourth quarter.
Similarly, scam SMS messages also showed an upward trend: 1,143,268 in the first quarter, 1,288,811 in the second quarter, 1,645,470 in the third quarter, and 2,079,968 in the final quarter of the year.
Among the fraudulent text messages, Whoscall identified 16,553 suspicious links, most of which were invitations for users to sign up for online services, promotions, insurance, games, financial services, loans, and rewards. Other common scam types involved online shopping frauds, dubious payment requests, and fake employment opportunities.
CICC Executive Director Undersecretary Alexander Ramos, speaking at the briefing, explained that scam texts and calls are often part of larger fraud schemes. He emphasized the ban on financial technology companies (fintech) and telecommunications companies (telcos) sending messages with attachments, particularly links, as a preventive measure.
“[We have] continuous announcements together with fintech and telcos, that no telco or fintech are sending messages with attachments. Pinagbawal na yan (We have banned that) as a policy. They will only give you a message on what to do, not click a link,” Ramos said.
Ramos also pointed to fake cell towers and social media platforms as major sources of these scam activities. He urged the government to pass laws that would specifically address scams originating from social media, similar to the SIM Registration Act, which has enabled authorities to trace scams linked to registered SIM cards.
“With the SIM card registration, we already know who to run after. Unlike before na wala (that there’s none). With the SIM card registration, we were able to reduce the number of vulnerabilities in the process,” he added.
The rising tide of scams has underscored the need for stronger regulatory measures to protect the public from increasingly sophisticated fraud tactics.
ia/mnm