BPI Offers Customers Free Anti-Scam App Access for One Year

Partnership Targets Rising Fraud Risks

Bank of the Philippine Islands has begun offering eligible customers complimentary access to Whoscall Premium Basic, an anti-scam detection platform, for 12 months. The initiative reflects mounting concern among regional financial institutions about increasingly complex fraud schemes targeting mobile banking users.

The Ayala-controlled lender partnered with Gogolook, a technology firm specializing in digital risk detection, to deploy the service. Customers who meet eligibility criteria will receive activation instructions through official bank channels. The application identifies unknown callers, blocks spam and scam calls, and filters suspicious text messages.

According to BPI, the arrangement also allows the bank's legitimate outbound calls to be verified through the Whoscall platform. This addresses a common customer pain point: uncertainty about whether unsolicited contact claiming to originate from the bank is genuine or a phishing attempt.

Tools and Customer Vigilance

Alma Aldip, BPI's head of unsecured lending and cards product and sales, emphasized that awareness remains as critical as technology. "This partnership allows us to go beyond traditional banking by equipping our clients with tools and knowledge that help them stay one step ahead of fraud," Aldip said. She cautioned that while Whoscall provides added protection, customers still need to exercise caution in all financial transactions.

BPI clarified that Whoscall is a third-party application. Features, performance, and technical support fall under Gogolook's responsibility rather than the bank's.

Regional Fraud Landscape

Gogolook global COO Manwoo Joo noted that scam tactics in Southeast Asia are becoming more localized and harder to detect. "Collaboration is key in staying ahead of fraud," Joo said. The company positions itself as bringing global expertise in digital risk detection to the Philippine market, where mobile banking adoption has accelerated sharply over the past three years.

Financial institutions across the region have ramped up anti-fraud measures. Singapore banks introduced mandatory cooling-off periods for large transfers in late 2025, while Indonesian regulators tightened know-your-customer requirements for digital wallets earlier this year. The Philippines has seen a surge in voice phishing, or vishing, attacks that impersonate bank officers to extract one-time passwords and account credentials.

Part of Broader Security Push

The Whoscall rollout forms part of a wider security upgrade at BPI, which is 175 years old and among the largest lenders in the Philippines by assets. The bank has been adapting its digital infrastructure to meet both customer demand for mobile services and the corresponding rise in fraud risk.

Philippine banking regulators have pressed institutions to strengthen authentication protocols and customer education programs. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas issued updated cybersecurity guidelines in 2025 that require banks to implement multi-factor authentication and real-time transaction monitoring.

BPI's move to bundle third-party security software with retail banking services mirrors strategies adopted by lenders in South Korea and Taiwan, where telecom-based scams have prompted similar partnerships between banks and anti-fraud technology providers. Whether the approach reduces actual fraud losses will depend on customer uptake and the evolving tactics of scammers, who have shown consistent ability to adapt to new defenses.