Discursive manipulation strategies of voice phishing scams in the Philippines : a conversational analysis / Jhanel Irish Faye E. Orpilla

Undergraduate Theses (ABELS) - English Language Studies. Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges, 2025.

Includes bibliographical references.

Over the years, voice phishing scams in the Philippines continued to evolve and adapt in new contexts and technologies. Hence, scams have been a growing concern for the general public for many years and the number of scammers has also been continuously increasing.

However, studies related to voice phishing scams in Philippine contexts has received limited to no attention. The main objective of this qualitative study is to conduct a conversational analysis of voice phishing scams in the Philippines to uncover the discursive manipulation strategies employed by scammers and to determine how they dominate the flow of conversation. To realize this, ten (10) recorded scam calls, sourced from publicly available social media platforms, were selected and analyzed through the lens of Van Dijk's ideological discourse and Turn-Taking by Mustikaningtyas et al. (2019). Findings revealed that scammers have shared characteristics. First, they rely on authority and evidentiality to manipulate their prospective victims into giving sensitive information. Second, they dominate the flow of the conversation through holding the floor strategy, thus giving the victim no time to resist. The findings suggest that individuals should develop critical awareness and to use these study findings to develop greater critical awareness to better distinguish between legitimate and fraudulent banking communications. Furthermore, the study recommended that future research explore additional dimensions of voice phishing, such as how manipulation strategies may vary based on a victim's gender, age, or status.