Online scams cost Filipinos P121.8 billion in one year

MANILA, Philippines — Filipinos lost an estimated P121.8 billion to scams over the past year, with digital wallets emerging as the primary channel used to transfer money to fraudsters, according to a new report.

The State of Scams Philippines 2026 report, conducted by Global Anti-Scam Alliance (GASA), in collaboration with Mastercard and Gogolook, estimated that about 11.7 million Filipino adults suffered financial losses from scams, averaging P10,427 per victim.

The P121.8-billion figure was based on a survey of 1,160 Filipino adults conducted from March 16 to April 13, 2026, with the findings extrapolated to the country’s adult population.

It is a survey-based estimate rather than an official tally of money reported stolen to authorities.

The report found that 84 percent of Filipino adults encountered at least one scam attempt in the past 12 months, up from 77 percent in 2025.

Respondents were estimated to have encountered an average of 151 scam attempts annually.

Overall, 44 percent of respondents interacted with a scam, while 15 percent reported losing money directly or through the theft of personal information that resulted in financial losses.

Among those who interacted with scams, 34 percent ended up losing money.

Shopping scams were the most commonly encountered schemes that prompted interaction, accounting for 24 percent of cases, followed by investment and employment scams at 22 percent each.

Digital wallets were the dominant payment channel used by scammers, with 73 percent of respondents who suffered financial losses saying the fraudsters received payments through e-wallets. This was substantially higher than the Asian average of 34 percent.