ANTI-SCAM mobile app Whoscall has reported a significant decline in scam messages and a surge in scam calls in the Philippines in the first quarter of the year.
Whoscall is an app developed by Taiwanese company Gogolook.
During a briefing at the National Cybercrime Hub in Bonifacio Global City on Wednesday, Gogolook Philippines Country Head Mel Migriño said 648,239 SMS scams were recorded by the app in the first quarter of 2025, a 68.3 percent decline compared to 2,079,968 SMS scams in the same period in 2024.
“This positive trend is further highlighted by a 43.3 percent year-on-year reduction compared to the 1,143,268 SMS scams recorded in the first quarter of 2024,” Migriño said.
However, Whoscall also recorded an uptick in scam calls, with 351,699 scam calls recorded in the same period, a 74.32 percent increase from 201,760, compared to the fourth quarter of 2024.
“The year-on-year growth is even more striking, with a staggering 225.17 percent rise compared to the 108,157 scam calls reported in the first quarter of 2024,” she said.
In response, Migriño said WhosCall has introduced the “Content Checker” feature that helps detect artificial intelligence or AI-driven scams through a screenshot.
“With the rise of AI, online scammers and fake news spreaders have become more sophisticated in conducting their schemes. By using AI tools, they can generate more realistic and convincing content, making their scams even more effective,” she said.
The new tool, she said, uses Whoscall’s database and large language models (LLM), a type of AI to analyze content and assess credibility to help users detect scams and fraudulent content across various online platforms, including SMS, social media posts, and messages.
Migriño, however, emphasized that Whoscall would not use uploaded images for AI training.
“Since this is a new technology, there will be improvements to cater to the growing needs of consumers to stay protected,” she said.
The launch of Whoscall’s Content Checker was led by Migriño, Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center Executive Director Alexander Ramos, and ScamWatch Pilipinas lead convenor Jocel de Guzman. (Raymond Carl Dela Cruz)
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