MANILA, Philippines — Cybercrime-related incidents in the country increased by 400 percent compared to the same period last year, the Department of Justice (DOJ) reported yesterday.
“There has been a spike in cybercrime-related incidents (to) the tune of 400 percent. These are already becoming the majority of the cases the DOJ is facing,” Assistant Justice Secretary Jose Dominic Clavo IV said in a chance interview.
“This only goes to show that we are seeing a trend that crimes in the country will be heading towards cyber-related incidents,” he added.According to Clavano, the usual fraudulent cases they encounter involve love, phishing, investment and tax scams.He noted that they are also on the lookout for other fraudulent schemes that they have yet to uncover.Clavano noted the DOJ will intensify its efforts to go after scammers and prevent the rise in cybercrime incidents.“We will need to build a cybercrime war against these scammers…We will ask for funding for our Office of Cybercrime to get the equipment capable of scraping the internet,” he said.Cyber criminals must also be prosecuted and convicted to halt the rise in cybercrimes, he added.The DOJ spokesman also urged the public to be more cautious about websites or applications that offer instant money.He said websites must be first checked and verified before engaging, especially with the proliferation of online scams.The office of Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo earlier warned the public against financial websites and advertisements using her name and picture.Her camp pointed out that Arroyo is not connected or related to any of the false advertisements online.