UnmatchPH 2026: ‘Umiwas sa AI, AI-AI Feb-Ibig’

• IN PHOTO (from left): Scam Watch Pilipinas co-founder Jocel de Guzman, Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) Acting Executive Director Undersecretary Aboy Paraiso, Gogolook Philippines Country Head and General Manager Mel Migriño, and Digital Pinoy National Campaigner Ronald Gustilo during the launch of Unmatch PH: “Umiwas sa AI, AI-AI Feb-Ibig,” a national anti-love scam awareness campaign, on Monday, February 2, 2026.

Scam Watch Pilipinas presented the profiles of possible targets, and the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) showed how artificial intelligence is used in these schemes during the launch of “UnmatchPH 2026: ‘Umiwas sa AI, AI-AI Feb-Ibig,’” a national anti–love scam awareness campaign.

Scam Watch Pilipinas co-founder Jocel de Guzman revealed five profiles that love scammers increasingly target.

“These scams focus on specific profiles: adults seeking foreign partners, financially stable professionals, women pressured to marry, men struggling with rejection, and solo parents looking for companionship, showing that scammers are exploiting vulnerability, not ignorance,” de Guzman said.

CICC Acting Executive Director Aboy Paraiso warned that the use of artificial intelligence has significantly escalated the scale and sophistication of love scams, allowing love scam actors to manipulate victims emotionally before shifting to financial exploitation.

“Artificial intelligence allows scammers to sustain emotional manipulation through fake identities, automated conversations, and staged interactions, making love scams more organized, more convincing, and more dangerous. These schemes are no longer isolated incidents but coordinated operations designed to emotionally groom victims before exploiting them financially,” Paraiso said.

Scam Watch Pilipinas and CICC launched the UnmatchPH initiative in 2024, which has since evolved into a yearly awareness campaign focused on exposing and preventing love scams.

UnmatchPH 2026

Under the UnmatchPH 2026 campaign, Scam Watch Pilipinas outlines the most common love-scammer profiles operating in the Philippines, helping the public recognize red flags early and avoid emotional and financial harm.

Among the most prevalent is the “Sad Boi, Sad Gurl,” who shares tragic personal stories to gain sympathy before gradually asking for money.

There is also “The Seducer,” who relies on attractive profile photos, quickly steers conversations toward sexual topics, overshares personal details, and may solicit nude photos that can later be used for blackmail.

Another is “The Investor,” often posing as an appealing foreigner with a glamorous lifestyle, responding in scripted patterns, and eventually drawing victims into fake forex or cryptocurrency schemes.

Other recurring profiles include “The Serviceman,” who claims to be a middle-aged foreign military officer stationed in Asia or the Middle East, expresses interest in a lifelong partner, typically targets older women, and later requests financial assistance. “The Escort” presents as highly attractive and sexually open, sends explicit photos, and asks for money before any in-person meeting.

Meanwhile, “The Slow Burn” builds trust gradually through seemingly harmless conversations and personal anecdotes, avoids meeting face-to-face, and later manipulates victims into sending money.

UnmatchPH 2026 also show that love-scam syndicates are increasingly using artificial intelligence to target Filipinos more systematically and sustain deception at scale.

Scammers now use AI-generated photos and fabricated identities to create realistic online personas, while scripted and automated conversations allow them to communicate with multiple victims at once in a consistent, emotionally calculated manner.

Some operations employ AI-assisted or staged video calls to simulate real interaction and deepen trust, even if the person on screen is not who they claim to be.

Behind the scenes, organized scam hubs rotate faces and identities among operators, ensuring the scam continues even if one persona is exposed.

Those most vulnerable include individuals tagged as “AFAM Forever,” adults aged 31 and above who use dating apps to seek long-term relationships with foreign partners; “Azukal de Tito,” men aged 35 and above with stable careers and aspirational online lifestyles who are discreetly drawn into paid encounters that escalate into financial manipulation; and “D2M (Date-to-Marry),” single women in their mid-30s to early 40s who openly indicate marriage intent on their profiles, often under family or social pressure.

Also identified are “WAFU,” men aged 31 and above who have experienced repeated rejection and struggle with self-confidence, making them prone to quick emotional and financial attachment, as well as solo parents—widowed or separated men and women in their mid-40s and above whose children are already independent and who are open to finding companionship and a life partner again.

‘Umiwas sa AI, AI-AI Feb-Ibig’

Inspired by Ara Mina’s hit song “Ay, Ay, Ay Pag-Ibig,” CICC adopted the campaign theme “Umiwas sa AI, AI-AI Feb-Ibig” to warn the public about the growing role of artificial intelligence in love scams.

The campaign illustrated how scammers use AI-generated photos and identities, scripted and automated conversations, AI-assisted or staged video calls, and rotating operators from organized scam hubs to sustain deception at scale.

Scam Watch Pilipinas and CICC reiterated their call for the public to report cybercrime-related incidents through the National Anti-Scam Hotline 1326, emphasizing that reports contribute toactionable intelligence for investigation and enforcement.

The launch of UnmatchPH 2026 was held at the Scam Watch Pilipinas headquarters in BGC, Taguig City, together with partner organizations including the Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP-ACG), Gogolook (the developer of global anti-scam appWhoscall), GCash, Meta, and Truth360.