Survey: Philippines has highest e-shopping scam rate in Asia

MANILA, Philippines — The public must be more wary of online fraud as the country has been tagged as having the highest rate of online shopping scams among 11 economies surveyed in the 2023 Asia Scam Report, the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) said yesterday.

In an advisory, the CICC said that the shopping scam rate in the country reached 35.9 percent, the highest among 11 Asian economies surveyed.

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 Asian 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 this Yuletide season.

“Based on our observation, shopping scams usually increase during the Christmas season,” Ramos explained. “Scammers take advantage of the high volume of online shopping and people’s vulnerability during this period.”

The mindset and immediate response of Filipinos when confronted with scams make them vulnerable to fall into traps, according to Ramos.

“Some people easily believe on false promises even if they are too good to be true,” he said.

Based on the Asia Scam 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 about the risk.

Other reasons for vulnerability include being enticed with incentives and over trusting friends and family members.

CICC is appealing to the public to call 1326 if they are victims of shopping scams and other cybercrimes.