MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP ACG) on Friday said it recorded fewer online scams so far in 2025 but maintained that it was monitoring possible scams ahead of the holiday season.
PNP ACG logged 7,081 cases of online scams in the entire year of 2024, while only 3,941 cases have been reported so far in 2025, spokesperson Lt. Wallen Mae Arancillo said in an interview on DZMM.
“It decreased compared to last year since many of our fellow citizens have become more knowledgeable about what to do and what not to do during our social media interactions and online transactions,” Arancillo explained in Filipino.
“Though, we’ve seen that online scams done by cyber criminals usually really increase during the Ber months compared to the previous months… That’s what we’re monitoring,” she added.
Acting PNP Chief Lt. Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. previously ordered the law enforcement agency to crack down on online scams ahead of this year’s holiday season.
Among the most frequent scams the PNP recorded so far this year were online selling scams (1,630 cases); investment or task scams (589 cases); vishing scams (431 cases); hijacked profile or identification scams (326 cases); and loan or lending scams (251 cases), the agency previously said in a statement last Tuesday. /mr