Cybercrime up by at least 56% in 2015 – PNP

A total of 847 cases of cybercrime were reported in the first 11 months of 2015, compared to 544 cases reported for the whole of 2014, the Philippine National Police's Anti-Cybercrime Group said.

The cybercrime complaints filed at the PNP-ACG from January to November include:

• online scam or estafa: 292 (up from 154 last year)
• online libel: 188 (up from 112)
• online threat: 84 (up from 56)
• identity theft: 71 (up from 61)
• photo and video voyeurism: 52 (up from 43)
• hacking: 51 (up from 41)
• robbery/extortion: 27 (up from 11)
• unjust vexation: 26 (up from 10)
• child pornography: 20 (up from 10)
• ATM/credit card fraud: 10 (up from 1)
• child abuse: 4 (down from 14)
• email spoofing: 2 (down from 6)
• online piracy: 1 (down from 2)
• illegal recruitment: 1 (down from 2).

The numbers are based on “walk-in complaints,” the PNP division said.

In a forum earlier this month, PNP Director General Ricardo Marquez said that the PNP is working with other agencies such as the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to combat cybercrime. 

Marquez also said that while the PNP has "more or less reduced or extinguished the existence of armed bank robberies," it has "seen the emergence of computer crimes, ATM fraud, skimming," with several of the cases involving foreigners.

In August, the PNP-ACG reported that the top five cybercrime complaints reported from 2013 to 2015 to date were online scams, online libel, online threats, identity theft, and photo and video voyeurism. — BM, GMA News