AN ANALYST and a national cybersecurity movement underscored the need for Filipinos to detect fake news, deepfakes and scams using free applications (apps) or software as the government and the private sector intensify the fight against fraudulent activities ahead of the May 12 midterm elections.
During the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines and San Miguel Corporation’s annual business journalism seminar here over the weekend, Cybercrime Investigation Coordinating Center (CICC) agent Marco Reyes said there are publicly available deepfake detector tools, including Google Search.
Reyes said deepfake technology creates realistic fake videos and audio recordings, and is used to imitate real people’s appearance and voice.
He said it is important to check the audio and video contents in various social media platforms, particularly of political candidates.
“In Facebook, those with credible Facebook profile … there is a higher chance of content that it is authentic. But if the profile that posted a content is somehow suspicious at kagagawa lang, naka-lock ang profile 'pag tingnan mo (and it was just created and the profile is locked when you view it), then that’s a red flag already that the content is manipulated,” he added.
Reyes said they have coordinated with law enforcement, the academe and the private sector to strengthen capabilities to combat scams.
“We (also) coordinate with organizations such as DOST (Department of Science and Technology) to launch projects on how to develop such capabilities to counter the use of AI (artificial intelligence) on scams, on other bad procedures na ginagawa ng (done by) perpetrators,” he said.
In an interview with journalists, ScamWatchPH co-founder and co-lead convenor Jocel de Guzman advised people to download legitimate apps to detect deepfakes from trusted sources.
“Make sure (to use those in the) Google Store or in the App Store. 'Wag tayo magda-download sa websites or sa mga link. Kasi number one, baka may malware. Number two, baka it’s a different tool. (We should not download from websites or links. Because number one, it might have malware. Two, it might be a different tool),” he said.
De Guzman underscored the recent partnership of the Presidential Communications Office with the CICC to beef up the government’s fight against fake news, deepfakes and scam activities.
De Guzman said a national task force would be created and a deepfake AI software will be distributed to select communities, according to CICC Executive Director Undersecretary Alexander Ramos.
He also bared that ScamWatchPH will launch an anti-deepfake campaign within the month.
“In terms of support, it’s not only (from) DICT (Department of Information and Communications Technology). We now have the Presidential Communications Office, we still have a partnership with DTI (Department of Trade and Industry),” he added.
Data showed CICC received a total of 3,251 complaints in the first quarter of 2025, or already a third of 10,004 complaints the agency received July to December last year.
Of the total 3,251 complaints, the same data showed that consumer fraud was the most reported cybercrime at 1,245. The others were online fraud, unsolicited communication, illegal access, sexual cybercrime, identity theft and phishing.
Further, de Guzman said telecommunication companies have invested in AI technology that detects and blocks scam text messages. (Leslie Gatpolintan / Joann Villanueva)
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