“I think government is doing all it can.”

— CICC Undersecretary Renato “Aboy” C. Paraiso on government response to cyber crimes

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MANILA, November 6, 2026 (SDN) — Is there a disconnect between what government response against digital scams victimizing millions of Filipinos and how strong is the adversary?

Consider some numbers taken from the GSMA ASEAN Scam Report 2026 unveiled on November 4 during the GSMA Digital Nation Summit 2026 tech forum held in the country.

First, in the Philippines. A total of 10% of consumers have fallen victims to scams in the last 12 months, a grim reality that makes them terrified of transacting online.

But it is not only in the country that this is happening, it is across the world, and in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), where 66% of all consumers have made changes to their online behavior, compared to 7% who did nothing at all.

While 65% to 80% are aware their bank, their government, or their telco operator have anti-scam platforms, the 66% behavioral change shows awareness does not equal belief in the process.

Adding to that in the ASEAN is that 56% of all consumers are presently eschewing inbound contact or transactions because of the scams they reported, 45% remained unresolved.

GSMA’s survey revealed a grim look at what’s happening in the battle against cybercriminals who have very often demonstrated they are at least a step ahead of any scam- or fraud-fighting measures that state actors and cybersecurity platforms put in place to thwart, prevent, and neutralized cyber attacks.

Think of the money the scam victims lost, their reputation taking a hit, and lost of trust in the digital process. Of those victimized across the region, a vast majority of 82% did not recover anyting they lost to cyber criminals, only 10% got a full refund.

Philippine network operators — Globe Telecom, Smart Telecommunications, and DITO Telecommunity — have a huge role in preventing scams.

And they are doing something, though the nature of the problem seems impossible to stop altogether.

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“There should be a shift in paradigm in the treatment … in resolving, prosecuting cyber crimes. If one country is being attacked it has to be as if it’s happening to all of the countries.”

For one, Globe had already blocked a billion spam texts in 2025 and also registered 85% drop in bank-related frauds SMS after it partnered with 45 bnaks; Smart had blocked 615,788 numbers in the first half of 2024. No number was provided for DITO Telecommunity.

Still in the Philippine scene, is government doing enough to respond and resolve consumers’ complaints?

Whatever the answer, local netizens are trusting tech/digital platforms to resolve their cases more than they do government. Is it a sign of the times?

Let’s hear from the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC), which is under the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).

SDN Chronicle caught up with the executive director of the CICC, Undersecretary Renato “Aboy” C. Paraiso at the sidelines of the GSMA Digital Nation Summit held at the Westin Manila in Ortigas Center, Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila.

First, he indicated that fighting and eradicating digital scams require global action as the problem is that they originate from beyond a country’s borders.

“I think government is doing all it can,” Paraiso said in an exclusive interview. “I think one of the key factors that we are doing is partnering with the private sector, but I think the long term solution would be … global solution where all the countries can participate because cyber crime is really borderless like what we were discussing earlier.

“The CICC official batted for a change in strategy in battling transnational crimes, saying “there should be a shift in paradigm in the treatment … in resolving, prosecuting cyber crimes. If one country is being attacked it has to be as if it’s happening to all of the countries.”

On the other hand, Paraiso said government is leveraging the Philippines’ current chairmanship of the ASEAN as he hopes that “we can have a meeting in order to change the definition of transnational crime in order for us to solve this borderless nature of cyber crimes.”

He called on Filipinos to “trust in the system, contact us, if hindi mag-action, isumbong nyo sa amin (if it does not act, report it to use).” The CICC Hotline for reporting cyber scams is 1326.

Filipinos should take the word of Paraiso and bring their complaints to the CICC, at least to see and test if the agency is doing its job and doing it efficiently and effectively.

It should be the case as Filipinos are the most with intense anxieties in the ASEAN as far as fears of being scammed is concerned.

As acknowledged in the digital realm, there’s no silver bullet against cyber criminals. — EDD K. USMAN / SDN Chronicle

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To be updated for more information and details.