A renewed surge of scams, this time primarily through calls, are hitting Filipinos as fraudsters are employing telemarketing-style schemes to acquire sensitive details like bank details.
Based on Whoscall’s third quarter data, the Philippines is entering a new phase of scam attacks, with criminals focusing their efforts on trying to dupe their targets through calls.
Whoscall, developed by Taipei-based innovator Gogolook, monitored a 78-percent spike in scam calls to 62,390 in the third quarter, from 34,964 in the second quarter.
Gogolook country head Mel Migriño said scammers are abusing the financial and telco industry practice of hiring third-party telemarketers to sell promos to customers. Scammers are using this scheme to deceive victims, pretending, for instance, to offer credit card limit upgrades.
Migriño expects scam calls to become more prevalent in the remaining months of the year. Given this, she warned Filipinos to be extra cautious when taking calls, as fraudsters will try to exploit the holiday season to promote fake incentives, promos and rewards.
On top of this, Whoscall reported a 32-percent surge in risky links to 27,510, attributed to scams that have shifted to chat apps, online platforms and social media.
Whoscall detected a 43-percent increase in loan-related links to 25,309, and it also flagged 1,926 travel scams ahead of the usual trips during the Undas break and Christmas season.
In contrast, Whoscall recorded a 94-percent drop in gambling links to 275 due to the government’s crackdown on illegal sites.
Migriño believes scam calls can hit six-digit levels in numbers in the fourth quarter, as scammers will work double time in duping as many victims as they can during the holiday period. As such, she urged Filipinos to report dubious numbers and risky links so authorities can check on them.
Scam Watch Pilipinas co-founder Jocel de Guzman also appealed to Congress to amend the SIM Registration Act. He said it is urgent for policymakers to place a cap on the number of SIMs that can be owned per individual.
In raids on scam hubs, De Guzman said authorities have uncovered criminals owning as many as 2,000 SIMs, all of which are used for fraudulent activities.
Whoscall is an app that can detect scam-linked numbers through its global phonebook, alarming users if calls and texts they are receiving are coming from bad actors.