Scam prevention to be taught in schools, communities

MANILA—A new scam prevention program is preparing to deploy more than 100 master trainers across the Philippines to teach people how to recognize and avoid online fraud, with organizers aiming to reach 1 million Filipinos through schools and communities.

The initiative brings together the ASEAN Foundation, the Bank Marketing Association of the Philippines (BMAP), Google, and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

The 105 master trainers will undergo a 10-hour training program over two days, conducted by the ASEAN Foundation.

The program aims to educate various sectors, including young people, senior citizens, farmers, fisherfolk and overseas Filipino workers.

“All of these master trainers will be provided with some resources to conduct their own (lessons), more like a classroom style, in order for them to teach their peers in their own local languages, with their own example of what’s happening in these scam activities,” said ASEAN Foundation Executive Director Dr. Piti Srisangnam during a press conference marking the launch of the Scam Ready ASEAN program in Manila.

BMAP President Catherine Santamaria said the program will also involve public school teachers, who will be trained to teach students about online scams.

“We’re looking at students in grades 9 to 12 for them to be able to be exposed to what scams are. And it will be part of their curriculum, part of their lessons,” she said.

Santamaria also noted that the number of master trainers could still increase, particularly with banks looking to expand their participation in the program.

Organizers are also developing a localized version of an interactive educational game that will use familiar scenarios and common scam tactics to teach Filipinos how to identify fraud and respond to suspicious messages and requests.

The game is expected to be rolled out between December and January, according to BMAP.

“We have Knowledge Channel who’s actually doing that for us. The idea is that the scenario should be real to everyone. Even the language will be Filipino, or depending on which dialect where we’ll be rolling it out, it will be based on that dialect,” said Peewee Villanueva, BMAP’s director for programs.

Villanueva said the goal is to make the game relatable so participants can better understand how scams work.

Srisangnam cited estimates from the Global Anti-Scam Alliance that people in Southeast Asia lost nearly $24 billion to scams in 2024.

He cautioned that the actual losses could be higher because some victims do not report incidents, believing they will not recover their money.

“Because a lot of people get tricked, but they are too afraid to report. Some of them think, oh, I already get tricked and I lost money already. I will not get it back. That’s why they don’t report,” he said.

Google Philippines Country Director Prep Palacios, meanwhile, said consumer fraud accounted for 38% of cybercrimes in the Philippines, while 43% of people across ASEAN had experienced consumer fraud in 2025.

Among the schemes discussed were fraudulent investment offers promising high returns, romance scams, and messages impersonating relatives or authorities to pressure victims into sending money or disclosing personal information.

“They play with your greed. They play with your love and desire. And they play with your fear,” Srisangnam said.

“Like, you see your grandma WhatsApp to you, video call, and ask you to transfer the money to her because she’s in trouble. But if you pause, check, and think, you’ll learn that, oh, my grandma don’t know how to use WhatsApp. But most of the people already transferred the money, right?” he explained.

The program aims to help participants recognize these tactics and pause before acting on suspicious messages or requests.

Palacios said Google will give $5 million in support of the Scam-Ready ASEAN program.

BSP Deputy Governor Bernadette Romulo-Puyat welcomed the collaboration between the public and private sector, stressing that preventing scams requires coordinated efforts among government agencies, banks, telecommunications companies and law enforcement.

“No single institution can do this alone when it comes to scams,” Romulo-Puyat said.

She said the BSP and the banking sector are also working together to strengthen public education and improve messaging about emerging fraud schemes, noting that reminders alone may not always resonate with the public.

“It’s not enough to come up with social media (posts)… We have a behavioral scientist that will maybe teach us or maybe help us with the messaging so that it comes across to not only the people who look at the BSP website but also all the banks’ website,” she added.

The event also saw BMAP introduce its campaign, “Ang Mahal ma-Scam, i-scamcheck.ph Mo Muna,” which encourages the public to verify information before clicking links, responding to messages, sending money or sharing personal information online.

The campaign reinforces a simple reminder from the BSP: pause, verify and report before taking action on suspicious communications.