Philippine cybercrime cases triple as fintechs deploy AI to curb money mulling

Losses hit US$3.35m as regulators tighten controls.

Reported cybercrime cases in the Philippines tripled to over 10,000 in 2024, with financial losses reaching about US$3.35m (₱198m), according to the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC). 

The surge has prompted banks and fintech firms to intensify the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for fraud detection and identity verification.

The Philippines’ Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said money mulling—the sale or lending of personal accounts for illicit fund transfers—is now a punishable offence under current laws. Regulators are also working with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to strengthen digital transaction oversight.

AI fintech Trusting Social Philippines launched new features to improve financial fraud monitoring, including Trust Insights 2.0, an upgraded credit risk intelligence system developed with Globe, Smart, GCash, and Maya. The platform analyses behavioural and transactional data covering up to 95% of adult Filipinos.

The company also rolled out SelfieScore, a biometric-based know-your-customer (KYC) tool that identifies deepfakes and impersonation attempts. The system is being adopted by financial institutions to verify account ownership and detect synthetic identities used in online scams and money mulling schemes.