Cybersecurity threats in the Philippines intensified sharply in 2025, with phishing activity surging more than fourfold as criminal groups shift toward large-scale, organized fraud operations, according to a new threat landscape report released by Check Point Research.
The feature, called SMS Scam Shield, is initially available to Android users and works by alerting subscribers when they receive suspicious messages, particularly those impersonating brands such as Globe or GCash.
Based on the list released by the cybersecurity company, the most targeted in the region were Vietnam (17,847,857), Malaysia (8,267,013), Thailand (6,283,745) and Indonesia (4,931,367).
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) governor Felipe Medalla earlier told the media in an interview in Cebu City that GCash had already reimbursed from its own funds the money taken by the scammers, although it has not publicly acknowledged that a phishing attack had transpired on the e-wallets of GCash users.
Kaspersky recorded 77,092 phishing incidents in Q2 among its e-shop customers in the country from only 15,119 in Q1. This reveals a 409% surge in phishing attempts from April to June this year.
