With Valentine’s Day just a few days away, Filipinos are being warned of newly believable and sophisticated love scams using Artificial Intelligence (AI), according to the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) on Monday.
“Use your brain, not only your heart, because today, your soulmate may be a ‘fraudster’ hiding behind a complex algorithm-a text of deception,” Renato “Aboy” A. Paraiso, acting director of CICC, during the press conference of the Anti-Love Scam campaign of this organization.
“They use AI [and] they follow a more sophisticated script than a teleserye (tv series). They create a fake relationship for weeks to gain trust,” said Mr. Paraiso.
CICC noted that fraudsters are using AI in a variety of ways, such as creating accounts with AI-generated photos and identities.
Criminals can come from anywhere, even overseas, as AI is already being used to automate documents and conversations in multiple languages.
The agency also reported serious incidents where fraudsters used AI in video calls to alter their appearance, making the scams believable.
Jocel de Guzman, founder of Scam Watch Pilipinas, CICC’s partner in this year’s campaign, said monitoring love scams is important as they serve as entry points for investment fraud, such as cryptocurrency, fake gold, and foreign exchange schemes.
2025 VOCATIONAL ABILITY REPORT
In the CICC’s 2025 love scam report, the agency said a total of 123 complaints were recorded, with fraudsters being the most harassed in the month of January, ahead of the “month of love,” and the “month of marriage” of June.
There are many women who have been abused according to the report, and there are 63 incidents recorded compared to 56 for men, and four have not been disclosed.
The majority of victims are between the ages of 18 and 29, indicating that romance scams can also prey on younger and more tech-savvy people, the CICC said. Other affected age groups include those between 30 and 39 years old (38 complaints) and 40 to 49 year olds (18 complaints).
The National Capital Region (NCR) has the highest number of romance scam cases at 50.7%, while Region IV-A accounts for 23.9%, while international cases account for 25.4% of the total.
The CICC also reported on the social media apps most used by cheaters: Telegram tops the list (31.7%), followed by WhatsApp (25.7%), Instagram (15.8%), Facebook and Tinder (11.9% each), and Litmatch (3%).
Mr. Paraiso noted that if someone you’ve only spoken to for two days on social media insists on moving to a private messaging app, it should be considered a “red flag.”
Meanwhile, a total of more than P20 million worth of missing money was reported to have been recovered from romance scams in the same year thanks to CICC’s efforts.
“AI, AI-AI FEB-IBIG” THE CAMPAIGN
To combat romance scams, CICC also launched its 2026 Anti-Love Campaign with the theme “AI, AI-AI FEB-IBIG,” which is a lyric of a popular Filipino song.
“This campaign is our way of fighting. We are using education, humor, and digital literacy to remind every Filipino: mag-i-ingat sa AI na pag-ibig (be aware of the love of AI),” said Mr. Paraiso.
CICC launched several videos of the campaign on social media, along with a dance challenge and a TikTok filter.
The agency continues to encourage victims, or those who have recently been victims of love scams and other online crimes, to call the CICC hotline on 1326. Edg Adrian A. Eva
