Cybercrime complaints surge 72% in 3 months

MANILA, Philippines — Cybercrime complaints received by the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) jumped by 72 percent in the first quarter from a year ago amid increasing awareness of channels for reporting such activities.

Speaking at the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines and San Miguel Corp.’s annual business journalism seminar, CICC agent Marco Reyes said there were 3,251 complaints received from January to March this year, up 72 percent from 1,891 complaints during the same period in 2024.

“The reason why we think that the complaints have risen is because the Filipino knows where to complain,” he said.

He said the CICC, along with cybersecurity advocacy group Scam Watch Pilipinas, has been conducting roadshows to inform the public about the channels for reporting scams, including the 1326 hotline complaint platform.

“If everyone knows there is a central platform to complain, naturally the frequency of complaints will get higher,” he said.

He said smishing and vishing were the top complaints during the first quarter.

Smishing, which is a form of phishing carried out over mobile text messaging, involves deceiving a victim to give sensitive information.

Vishing, meanwhile, uses phone calls to trick victims into providing sensitive information.

Reyes said vishing is usually carried out by those pretending to be bank employees.

As artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming more accessible, he said it is likely that it is also being used by some perpetrators of cybercrimes.

“AI is a tool. So if it’s a tool, anybody can use it. Good or bad people, anyone can use it,” he said.

Last year, cybercrime complaints received by CICC tripled to 10,004 from just 3,317 in 2023.