Column urges Mindanao BPO and finance firms to train staff against AI-driven scams

Business process outsourcing (BPO) and finance companies in Davao City and the rest of Mindanao should treat worker training as their main protection against scams that use artificial intelligence, Leonard Duque argues in a column published by Mindanao Times.

Duque, chief information officer and director of the Technology Solutions Group at P&A Grant Thornton, writes that the trust placed in BPO and bank workers, who handle accounts, payments and personal data, has made them targets. He cites figures showing the Philippines logged 16,619 phishing attacks and more than 19.2 million stolen local passwords and logins in the first half of 2026, along with 477,302 reported scam calls, compared with about 125,000 for all of 2025.

According to the column, AI can now copy a person's voice with roughly 85 percent accuracy from about three seconds of audio, and deepfake videos have become the most common form of AI-driven attack. "The scammer is not trying to break into your computers. He is trying to convince your people," Duque writes. He notes that about 62 percent of data breaches worldwide involve human error, and that nearly half come through outside service providers, a particular risk for firms serving foreign clients.

Duque recommends action in three areas. On technology, he calls for multi-factor log-ins, limited access rights, tools that keep client data from leaving the company, and approved AI tools so staff do not paste customer information into free personal apps. He suggests smaller rural banks without security teams consider outsourcing monitoring to a managed security provider.

On process, he says requests to change bank details should be verified by calling back a number already on file, larger transactions should need two approvals, and no instruction should be accepted on the strength of a voice or video call alone.

On people, he argues that training should be practical and frequent, using real stories, short videos and mock phishing emails and calls. He adds that staff skilled in fraud detection and safe AI use will become more valuable as AI takes over routine tasks, and that business leaders must not ask for exceptions to security rules themselves.