Cybercrimes in the National Capital Region (NCR) rose by 152 percent during the first half of the year according to the Philippine National Police.
The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) said the total number of cybercrimes reported to police from January to June 30 reached 6,250 up from 2,477 recorded during the same period last year.
Online scams tripled to 4,446 compared to 1,551 last year while illegal access reached 1,063, from 570 last year.
ATM and credit card fraud cases also rose to 625 from 241 cases reported during the same period last year.
Police Lt. Col. Jay D. Guillermo of the Regional Anti-Cybercrime Unit (RACU)-NCR said cybercrime cases will continue to increase due to the availability of malware on the internet, ease of doing business of both private and government institutions, technological development and careless of online users.
“Despite the ongoing implementation of the SIM Registration Act, cybercrime and cyber security related concerns of the public are on the uptrend,” Cybercrime Monitoring and Public Complaints Coordination (CICC) Division Chief Norman Ancheta said.
The CICC’s Inter-Agency Response Center (IARC) established on Dec. 27, 2022 following the implementation of the SIM registration law, received a total of 3,609 complaints related to SIM registration and 904 cyber complaints from January 1 to June 15. Most of the cyber complaints are related to online fraud (364), illegal access (192) and online libel (103).
CICC Executive Director Alexander K. Ramos said “a single portal is necessary to allow the government to have a firm grasp of reality in fighting cybercrimes.” – Rommel F. Lopez