Online shoppers, OFWs warned on e-transactions

CEBU, Philippines — While digital remittance platform is still in its infancy period in the Philippines, consumers should be extra vigilant when doing transactions online, advised cybersecurity expert Kaspersky Lab.

"The Philippines is just starting on its journey towards a cashless society and from a cybersecurity standpoint, I'd say it is the best time for the Philippines to evaluate both the opportunities and threats down the road to achieve eventual benefit for the people and the economy,” said Stephan Neumeier, managing director for Kaspersky Lab Asia Pacific.

Kaspersky specifically mentioned the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who frequently use the online channel to send money to families back home, thereby exposing some of their personal details online.

Money sent home by OFWs recorded $28.1 billion in 2017, with a projected growth of five percent year-on-year. There are about 2.2 million Filipinos working abroad.

“While digital payment is still in its infancy stage in the Philippines, now is the perfect time to educate OFWs and their families here in the country that they are lucrative targets for cybercriminals,” said Neumeier.

According to Neumeier it is about time to promote cybersecurity awareness among the Filipinos working abroad, as well as their families especially that remittances play a crucial role for them and the economy.

Aside from remittances, and money transfer, Kaspersky is also calling the consumer in general to be cautious in placing digital payments and other cashless transactions, as the Philippines is still on the starting point of this evolution.

“On top of that, OFW are probably working in countries where digital payments platforms are already mature. OFWs have what these hackers are running after, which is money, so they have to be aware of the threats and they have to understand how they can protect themselves,” he warned.

While still lagging behind Singapore and India, the Philippines is on track towards broad consumer adoption of digital payments and mobile wallets.

Compared to its neighboring countries in Southeast Asia, the Philippines has the lowest online money transactions in the region.

Currently, 99 percent of financial processes are still done using cash, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

Kaspersky Lab ranked the Philippines as the eighth most attacked country by mobile malware in 2016. Data from the Kaspersky Security Network (KSN) showed 34.97 percent of Filipinos with smartphones have been infected by this type of threat that year.

Data shows that there are over 30 million smartphone users in the Philippines and 14 percent of them are now using their devices for transacting money online.