PH Trend Watch

E-Wallet and Text Scams in the Philippines: How to Protect Your Money

By the PH Trend Watch team · Updated October 29, 2026

Short answer: never share your OTP, MPIN or password with anyone, never log in through links sent by text, email or chat, and confirm any "you won" or "your account is locked" message through the official app. Real banks and e-wallets will never ask for your OTP.

The most common scams

  • Phishing texts and links: messages saying your account is locked, a package is on hold or you won a promo, with a link to a fake login page that steals your details.
  • OTP requests: a caller pretending to be from your bank or e-wallet asks you to "confirm" a code. That code authorises a transfer out of your account.
  • "Wrong send" scams: someone sends you money "by mistake" and pressures you to return it to a different number — often the money came from a stolen account, or the original transfer gets reversed.
  • Fake sellers: online sellers who take payment and disappear, especially with prices that are too good to be true.
  • Job and investment offers: easy-money tasks, "double your money" schemes or crypto offers that ask you to pay first.

How to protect yourself

  1. Open your bank or e-wallet only through the official app or by typing the address yourself.
  2. Never share your OTP, MPIN or password — not even with someone claiming to be staff.
  3. Turn on app lock, biometrics and transaction notifications.
  4. For "wrong sends", don't send money to a new number — ask the sender to contact the e-wallet's official support to reverse it.
  5. Check investment offers against the SEC's advisories before paying anything.

If you've been scammed

  1. Contact your bank or e-wallet immediately through the official app or hotline and ask them to block or flag the transaction.
  2. Change your passwords and MPIN.
  3. Report it to the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) — its Inter-Agency Response Center hotline is 1326 — or to the PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group.
  4. Keep screenshots of messages, numbers and receipts as evidence.

Scammers now use AI too — see our guide to deepfake and voice-clone scams.

General safety information. Contact your bank or e-wallet's official channels for help with your account.

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