PNP: ‘Substantially fewer’ cybercrimes in 2025 due to cyberpatrols, awareness

The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Tuesday noted a significant decrease in cybercrime incidents in 2025, with fewer online selling and investment scams, hijacked profiles and vishing incidents logged last year.

The PNP’s Anti-Cybercrime Group (ACG) recorded “substantially fewer” cybercrime cases from January 1 to December 4, 2025 across most major scam categories compared to 2024.

Online selling scams, the most common cybercrime, dropped to 1,525 cases in 2025 from 3,025 cases in 2024, or a 49.5% decline.

Similarly, investment-related scams like investment and task scams went down to 291 cases in 2025 from 1,101 cases the previous year, or a 73.5% drop.

Hijacked profile or ID scams fell from 604 cases in 2024 to 183 cases in 2025 or a 69.7% decrease, while vishing incidents declined sharply by 86.4% from 589 in 2024 to just 80 cases last year.

In a statement, acting PNP chief Police Lieutenant General Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. said the sharp drop in cybercrimes are due to sustained cyber patrolling, digital investigations, and public awareness efforts of the ACG.

“Malaki ang naitutulong ng tuloy-tuloy na cyber patrolling ng PNP ACG. Nandiyan na tayo sa digital space kung saan kumikilos ang mga scammer, kaya mas maaga natin silang natutukoy at napipigilan,” Nartatez said.

(The PNP ACG’s continuous cyber patrolling is a big help. We are already in the digital space where scammers are lurking, and we are able to detect and stop them early on.)

The PNP added that although cybercrimes went down last year, cybercrimes are continuing to evolve in their tactics and scams.

Cases involving job and task scams, online loan scams, and impersonation scams remain among the most monitored online scams.

“Hindi titigil ang PNP. Sa 2026, lalo pa nating paiigtingin ang ating anti-cybercrime campaign. Mas pinalalakas natin ang intelligence, ang enforcement, at ang pakikipagtulungan sa iba’t ibang ahensya,” Nartatez said.

(The PNP will not stop. In 2026, we will intensify our anti-cybercrime campaign. We will beef up our intelligence, enforcement, and cooperation with other agencies.)

He added that the public’s vigilance is a critical factor in fighting cybercriminals.

“Kapag mapanuri ang mamamayan at agad nagrereport, mas mabilis tayong makakakilos. Sama-sama nating labanan ang panlilinlang online,” Nartatez added.

(If citizens are critical of information and immediately report these to us, we can take action much faster. Let us fight online deception together.) — JMA, GMA Integrated News