Whoscall: Philippines sees 78% surge in scam calls in Q3 of 2025

• IN PHOTO (from left): Gogolook Philippines Country Head and General Manager Mel Migriño, CICC Acting Executive Director Aboy Paraiso, and Scam Watch Pilipinas Co-founder Jocel De Guzman.

By TechWatch PH

Scam calls in the Philippines increased by 78.44 percent in the third quarter of 2025, based on data from the Whoscall Scam Report.

During this period, the Whoscall, a global anti-scam application, recorded a notable 62,390 scam calls, rising from 34,964 in the previous quarter. The total remains 62.24 percent lower year-on-year compared to 165,236 scam calls recorded during the same months in 2024.

Scam text messages continued to decline. Whoscall recorded 37,609 SMS scams, a 42.17 percent decrease from 65,035 in the previous quarter and a 97.71 percent year-on-year drop from 1,645,470 reported in 2024.

Gogolook Philippines Country Head and General Manager Mel Migriño said that the latest data reflects a behavioral shift among mobile users.

“Since the first quarter Scam Report of 2025, we have seen that Filipinos have become more cautious about clicking links from unknown numbers in SMS swindles. This shows that scammers are now shifting their tactics to calls and social media,” Migriño said.

Migriño further explained that this surge in call scams is largely linked to scammers exploiting the telemarketing channels of financial institutions.

“They are taking advantage of legitimate promotional calls like credit card limit upgrades, making their scams sound more believable to unsuspecting consumers,” she noted.

According to Migriño, the continued drop in SMS scams can be attributed to the “whole-of-society approach” involving law enforcement raids of major scam hubs nationwide and joint awareness campaigns spearheaded by government agencies, Scam Watch Pilipinas, and private sector partners such as Gogolook. “These collaborations are working — Filipinos now recognize that any SMS from an unknown number with a link is a text scam,” she added.

Gogolook, a leading TrustTech company, is the developer of the global anti-scam application Whoscall.

Government authorities urged the public to remain alert and report scam attempts through official platforms.

“We continue to urge the public to report scam incidents, as these serve as leads for further investigation and as the foundation for various initiatives that raise public awareness against online scams,” Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) Acting Executive Director Usec. Renato “Aboy” Paraiso said.

“Fighting scams is a shared responsibility. This is a whole-of-society approach, and we need the support of private institutions like Gogolook and advocacy groups such as Scam Watch Pilipinas to strengthen our collective defense,” Paraiso added.

Risky URLs

Whoscall recorded 27,510 malicious links during the same period, rising from 18,735 in the second quarter — a 31.65 percent increase.

Most of these links imitated loan or reward offers from banks, increasing from 14,421 in the second quarter to 25,309 in the third quarter. Adult gambling URLs decreased by 93.61 percent, from 4,308 to 275.

Travel-related phishing URLs also emerged, with 1,926 linksmimicking airline promotions and hotel booking confirmations.

Migriño said that the sharp drop in adult gambling URLs followed the massive crackdown led by the CICC under Usec. Paraiso, while the rise in travel-related phishing is expected to continue as “Filipinos love to travel during the Holiday Season.”

Scam Vault PH

Scam Vault PH operates in partnership with Scam Watch Pilipinas, the CICC, the Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group, and Gogolook Philippines.

It serves as a public reporting hub for phishing links, fake job offers, and social media scams.

As of October 3, the platform has logged a total of 309 scam reports. These include 130 cases involving SMS or instant messaging scams, 155 reports related to social media scams, and 24 incidents linked to malicious URLs or phishing links.