Barbie Forteza, David Licauco, Martin del Rosario star in anti-scam campaign

MANILA, Philippines — There’s a whole new and beautiful world out there in cyberspace. Where we used to rely on manual power, the Internet is speeding things up for us. Unfortunately, cyberspace is also full of unscrupulous people who are always on the prowl to dupe innocent people of their hard-earned money and leave them clueless as to what happened. This, hopefully, is about to change.

To help people recognize and not fall victim to cyber scams, Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), the first bank in the Philippines and in Southeast Asia, has joined hands with GMA Network and its subsidiary, GMA New Media Inc., to launch an anti-scam campaign aimed at raising public awareness on cybersecurity.

The project primarily involves the co-production of three dramatized public service announcements (PSAs) in video format, depicting common cyber scams and how people can guard against fraudsters who perpetuate them. Basically, what these PSAs show is how fraudsters use common social engineering schemes to dupe unsuspecting individuals and what information people should never share with anyone to avoid being scammed.

“We hear the stories from family, friends and colleagues these unfortunate experiences are the basis of the “Maging Listo, Wag Magpaloko” campaign. We all want to reduce cybercrime and protect against unauthorized exploitation of our systems, networks and technology,” said Catherine Santamaria, BPI Chief Customer and Marketing Officer.

Jonathan John Paz, BPI Enterprise Information Security Officer and Data Protection Officer, added: “With this partnership, we hope to change the behavior of banking clients so that they become more vigilant against cyber scams and will never share any confidential information such as card security details, passwords, and One-Time PINs (OTPs) with anyone. We all share responsibility in keeping persona data safe, and this shared responsibility can only be sustained when we all work together.”

For her part, Angela Javier Cruz, Vice President and Head of GMA Corporate Affairs and Communications, says, “Along with the rise of electronic or digital channels, cyberattacks on retail customers using mobile and and Internet applications for their financial transactions have increased. As a media company, we see the need to conduct customer education campaigns against online scams and social engineering schemes such as phishing, smishing, and vishing.”

“We will be able to arm individuals with ways to protect themselves from cyber threats and stay safe online and, in the long run, help create a culture of cybersecurity awareness that is essential in the digital age. It all starts with education,” Dennis Augusto L. Caharian, President and Chief Operating Officer, GMA New Media Inc., stressed.

The PSAs featured a number of Sparkle artists, including "Kapuso Primetime Princess" Barbie Forteza, "Pambansang Ginoo" David Licauco, comedian Betong Sumaya, versatile TV personality Maey Bautista, and Filipino actor and model Martin del Rosario.

These will air on GMA’s free-to-air channels GMA-7 and GTV, on the network’s digital channels Heart of Asia and I Heart Movies, and on the Kapuso Network’s digital platforms. BPI will show the PSAs on its official social media accounts and in its branches all around the country.