(INQUIRER file photo / NIÑO JESUS ORBETA)

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan — As the deadline for the total ban on Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) /  Internet Gaming Licensees (IGLs) nears, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) reported a significant decrease in the number of text scams recorded.

In an interview on the sidelines of the Government Digitalization Cooperation: A Collaboration in Developing Capacity-Building workshop here on Monday, DICT Undersecretary for e-Government David Almirol Jr. reported a significant decrease in text scam incidents, particularly as the December 31 deadline set by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. approaches.

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“Malaki ang pagbabago talaga. Sobrang laki. Dati inuulan kami ng mga tawag eh sa aming e-report. Pero ngayon, declining talaga yung report talaga ng text cam ngayon. Sobrang declining,” Almirol told INQUIRER.net.

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(There has been a big change, truly a significant one. Before, we used to get flooded with calls for our e-reports. But now, the reports through the text cam are really declining. It’s drastically declining.)

While the DICT is not the agency responsible for law enforcement when it comes to text scams, he said that it would be much better if these illegal activities were completely eradicated.

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In a study titled “The State of Scams in the Philippines 2024,” released last October by the Global Anti-Scam Alliance, it was reported that a whopping US$8.1 billion, or nearly P460 billion, was lost by Filipinos to text scams over the past 12 months.

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It is equivalent to 1.9 percent of the Philippines’ gross domestic product, and on average, each Filipino victim lost $275, or about P16,000, to scammers.

The report also said that around 39 percent of surveyed Filipinos had lost money to scammers, but only three percent were able to recover their money.

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