Most Filipinos, 65 percent of participants in Kaspersky's latest digital payment systems survey, changed the passwords on their bank or digital wallet accounts and apps when they fall victim to online fraud.
On the other hand, half of surveyed Filipino victims of online scammers and fraudsters, or 51 percent, admitted informing their family and friends about what happened was what they did before anything else.
Only 43 percent contacted their bank or financial service company to report the incident as their immediate course of action.
Victims of online financial scams normally prioritize calling the bank or service company their money was sent through to get their funds back, avoid further losses and protect them from repeat incidents.
However, Filipinos showed a different behavior pattern, according to Kaspersky.
Nevertheless, the same survey showed 54 percent of Filipino respondents are confident that electronic banking and e-wallet platforms are very secure that they use these services at least several times a week.
In a country where cash is still king, recurrent lockdown measures prompted Filipinos to rely on mobile payment apps and digital wallets for their daily financial transactions.
Local survey participants chose digital payments to transfer money to family and friends, pay for utilities, and shop online, in that order.
“We can glean from this data that Filipinos draw strength from their family during a crisis particularly where there’s potential loss of money," observed Yeo Siang Tiong, Kaspersky General Manager for Southeast Asia.
"This may explain why they make calls to their families and friends before anything else rather than swiftly report their circumstance to the proper authorities,” he noted.
“Unfortunately, the likelihood of failing to claim the funds back plus a heightened emotional stress would be higher in this scenario because of the delay in seeking help from financial institutions,” Yeo cautioned.
“This is where prevention is essential. The detection of a scam or fraud early on in the transaction means less headache for you and your family and your hard-earned money stays intact,” he underscored.
Apart from using a strong password, enabling all security features of the device and apps, and keeping an eye on red flags, practicing good cyber hygiene is important.
This includes considering dependable software protection even before an unfortunate event takes place and not after encountering an incident, according to Yeo.