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Cyber fraud capital

Based on recently released proprietary insights from the global intelligence network of remittance firm TransUnion, the suspected digital fraud rate of digital transactions in the Philippines stood at 13.4 percent in 2024, placing the Philippines as the second highest suspected digital fraud rate among markets analyzed, following India (19 percent) and preceding the Dominican Republic (10.9 percent).

Suspected digital fraud rate in the Philippines was higher than the global level of 5.4 percent in 2024, consistently exceeding the global rate for the fifth consecutive year, going back to 2020, when TransUnion’s analysis began.

The country’s digital fraud rate also increased by five percent from 2023, starkly contrasting the worldwide eight percent decrease.

Among consumers surveyed across 18 countries and regions between November and December 2024, over seven in every ten Filipinos, or 74 percent, reported being targeted by an email, online, phone call, or text messaging fraud scheme in the last three months, much higher than 53 percent across the markets surveyed.

Moreover, over one-third (34 percent) of Filipinos reported losing money from cyber fraud, surpassing the global rate of 29 percent. These trends show that Filipinos face more significant risks from fraud.

Based on the study, the average reported fraud loss among Filipinos last year was $768, exceeding P44,700 in local currency. While these figures are lower than the median of $1,747 (approximately P101,700) across global markets that TransUnion surveyed, the impact of falling victim to fraud remains significant.

Considering the average monthly wages in the Philippines, the losses constitute at least two months of salary for most Filipino households.”

According to TransUnion’s report, communities, which include online dating and social media sites and forums, had the highest suspected digital fraud rate among industries for attempted transactions, at 19.2 percent last year. These findings align with global trends, as the industry also emerged with the highest suspected digital fraud rate, at 11.6 percent worldwide.

However, the alleged digital fraud rate from the Philippines in communities exceeded the global rate by 66 percent.

The number of social media users in the Philippines is 78 percent of the country’s population. The high volume of users interacting online opens doors for fraudsters to take advantage of unsuspecting victims. Despite a decrease in digital transactions in communities globally and in the Philippines last year, a growth in the number of transactions suspected to 78 percent of the country’s population. The high volume of users interacting online opens doors foe digital fraud was posted. This reveals that fraudsters are ramping up their attacks by targeting more victims and diversifying their tactics.

Following communities, the retail industry emerged with the second highest rate of suspected digital fraud, 13 percent, for attempted transactions where the consumer was in the Philippines last year — higher than 7.6 percent globally. Although financial services remained among the top three industries most targeted by suspected digital fraud in the Philippines at 6.3 percent, this rate has significantly decreased by 35 percent from a year ago, even as the number of digital transactions in that industry increased by almost one-fifth or 17 percent.

This improvement might be attributed to the recent efforts of both the public and private sectors to combat fraud in that industry.