MANILA, Philippines – Filipinos were seen as the ASEAN region’s most anxious consumers and the most willing to accept high amounts of friction — or points of slowdown such as security steps — to avoid being scammed.
This was according to a report from the GSM Association (GSMA) released during a roundtable discussion on the sidelines of the GSMA Digital Nation Summit Manila last November 4.
A GSMA survey in the ASEAN Consumer Scam Report for 2026 said that in the Philippines, while 10% of respondents were scammed within the last 12 months, 78% of respondents changed their behavior because of scams occurring. This change in behavior may not necessarily be due to a scam occurring to them, but because they realized these scams existed or were happening to people they knew.
The Philippines is also second only to Vietnam in terms of changing behaviors — 79% for Vietnam and 78% for the Philippines — but 13% of Vietnam respondents were scammed in the past 12 months, according to the report.
On the topic of consumer anxiety, 76% of Filipinos said they worried about being scammed.
