Scam Watch Pilipinas sheds light on BSP reimbursement rules for scam victims

Scam Watch Pilipinas gave a clear explanation of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) reimbursement rules for scam victims, saying consumers may be entitled to reimbursement when a financial institution “fails to comply with its obligations” under the Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act (AFASA) and its implementing rules.

The advocacy group welcomed the BSP’s guidance on the reimbursement framework under AFASA, saying it strengthens accountability among banks and other financial institutions while recognizing that each case must be evaluated based on its specific circumstances.

Scam Watch Pilipinas co-founder Jocel de Guzman urged banks and other BSP-supervised financial institutions to immediately assess their readiness to fully implement the law.

“We call on all banks and other BSP-supervised financial institutions to immediately review and strengthen their processes, systems, and organizational readiness to fully implement AFASA,” de Guzman said.

He said financial institutions should adopt a Whole-of-Organization Approach involving their leadership, fraud management, information security, technology, legal and compliance, operations, customer experience, communications, risk management, and frontline personnel.

These units must work together to ensure the timely prevention and detection of scams, response to and investigation of incidents, assistance to affected customers, preservation of evidence, and compliance with regulatory requirements.

De Guzman also urged financial institutions to establish dedicated scam-reporting hotlines or channels separate from their general customer service operations.

“Victims of fraud should not have to compete with routine customer inquiries when every minute can make the difference in freezing suspicious transactions, preserving evidence, and minimizing financial losses,” he said.

Scam Watch Pilipinas also noted that many online financial scams are carried out through social engineering rather than the direct compromise of banking systems.

Victims are often deceived into voluntarily sharing their one-time passwords, verification codes, passwords, or personal identification numbers. Others are manipulated into approving fraudulent transactions through impersonation, fake websites, suspicious links, and other deceptive tactics.

Scam Watch Pilipinas said stronger regulations could provide greater consumer protection but could not completely eliminate scams that exploit human trust and deception.

It added that protecting consumers remains a shared responsibility among the BSP, financial institutions, law enforcement agencies, technology companies, civil society organizations, and the public.

Scam Watch Pilipinas also reiterated its Kontra-Scam Attitude, which encourages consumers to be “Magdamot” by refusing to share their OTPs, verification codes, passwords, or PINs; “Magduda” by questioning unsolicited messages, calls, links, and requests; “Mang-isnab” by ignoring suspicious offers and requests that appear too good to be true; and “Magsumbong” by immediately reporting scams to the National Anti-Scam Hotline 1326 and the financial institution concerned.

The Kontra-Scam Attitude of Scam Watch Pilipinas forms part of its broader Quad Model push, a citizen-powered, cross-sector approach that brings together behavioral change, volunteer watchers, institutional cooperation, and technology-enabled reporting to make digital safety a shared responsibility.

Read full statement here:

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