The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has backed the Philippines launch of Scam Ready ASEAN, a regional programme that aims to teach 3 million people across Southeast Asia how to spot and respond to online scams, the central bank said.

The Philippine leg kicked off at the BSP Head Office in Manila on 12 October.

The Bank Marketing Association of the Philippines (BMAP) led the event with the ASEAN Foundation and Google.org, in collaboration with the BSP.

“At the BSP, we believe that as digital finance becomes more accessible, it must also become safer,” said BSP Governor Eli Remolona Jr. in a recorded message.

Training 2,000 Master Trainers

The ASEAN Foundation launched Scam Ready ASEAN in April with US$5 million from Google.org, Manila Bulletin reported.

The programme plans to train 2,000 Master Trainers, who will then teach scam awareness and prevention in their own communities and organisations.

It also uses the Be Scam Ready game, an interactive tool that lets people practise spotting fraudulent schemes and making safer choices online.

Check Before You Click

At the event, BMAP launched “Getting scammed is costly, check it on scamcheck.ph first”.

The industry-wide campaign urges people to verify information before clicking links, replying to messages, sending money or sharing personal details online.

BSP Deputy Governor Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said in her keynote that fighting scams requires “action and collaboration”, not just awareness, and called consumer protection a shared responsibility.

The launch drew representatives from regulators, banks, telcos, technology firms, law enforcement agencies and consumer groups.

Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Philippines based on images by the Bank Marketing Association of the Philippines (BMAP) via its website and sarah202 via Magnific.