The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC), an attached agency to the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), on Thursday, Nov. 23, cautioned the public to be "extra careful" while doing Christmas shopping, as the Philippines recorded the highest shopping scam rate among 11 Asian countries.
"Based on our observation, shopping scams usually increase during the Christmas season," CICC Executive Director Alexander K. Ramos said in a statement.
“Scammers take advantage of the high volume of online shopping and people’s vulnerability during this period,” Ramos added.
As per the CICC, the Philippines registered a 35.9 percent shopping scam rate.
"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 countries in Asia including the Philippines, Taiwain, Thailand, Japan, Korea, Malaysia , Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam , China and Indonesia," CICC said.
The CICC emphasized that a shopping scam is one of nine "mainstream" scam scenarios and techniques.
In addition to shopping scams, other types of scams such as identity theft, investment scams, government/bank scams, job scams, lottery scams, family/relatives scams, bill payment scams, and charity scams are prevalent.
Ramos pointed out that Filipinos' susceptibility to falling into scams is heightened by their mindset and immediate reactions when faced with fraudulent schemes.
“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 and 21.1 percent of victims chose to take a risk despite uncertainty about the risk," CICC said.
Other reasons for vulnerability include being enticed with incentives and trusting with friends and family members," it added.
Furthermore, the CICC encouraged the public that in case they become victims of shopping and other cyber-related scams they can contact "1326."