CICC records threefold increase in cybercrime complaints, P198M lost

The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) recorded 10,004 cybercrime complaints in 2024, marking a threefold increase from the 3,317 cases reported in 2023.

Alexander K. Ramos, CICC Executive Director, attributed the rise to growing public awareness and willingness to report incidents rather than an actual surge in cybercrimes.

Consumer fraud accounted for 35 percent of total complaints with non-delivery of goods or services making up 86 percent of cases, followed by online fraud at 32 percent.

The majority of victims who reported consumer fraud, online fraud, and phishing used GCash as their digital wallet, resulting in a total loss of P76.49 million; other platforms like BPI, GoTyme, and Paymaya also experienced significant losses.

In addition to the complaints, cybercrime victims lost nearly PHP198 million last year alone.

Senator Risa Hontiveros filed a resolution in November 2024 to investigate unauthorized transactions and phishing scams targeting digital wallet users following numerous reports of GCash fraud.