Taiwanese Innovators: Gogolook

Founded in 2012, Gogolook is a Taiwanese TrustTech leader on a mission for digital trust. Their "Build for Trust" motto reflects their commitment to online safety. Using AI and data analysis, they offer solutions for individuals and businesses. Their popular Whoscall app helps users identify spam calls, SMS, and URLs. Gogolook also provides FinTech solutions and cloud-based anti-scam management tools for corporate clients. As the digital world evolves, they're exploring Web3 for future trust-building opportunities. Gogolook acts as a digital guardian, offering a holistic shield against scam. With that, why don’t you join me in learning more about Gogolook with its SEA Regional Director, Mel Migriño

Could you share more about you and your career? 

I have been a cybersecurity and technology practitioner for more than two decades. I assumed the different leadership roles in technology, cybersecurity, enterprise risk and as well as data privacy. I do have an advocacy on empowering women to be digital risk leaders. This is emanated through my non-profit organization which is the Women in Security Alliance Philippines (WiSAP). We are heavy as well on gender inclusion within WiSAP. We strongly promote the programs that increase awareness and knowledge in the areas of cybersecurity and different facets of digital risk.

On the other side of the coin, I recently founded a technology organization. It's also a non-profit company called the Philippines Chief Information Officer Association (PCIOA). This is an affiliate of the ASEAN CIO Association. I founded this together with the support of my two male friends in the industry. This is an enclosed group of vetted technology leaders in the country wherein we aim to support the digital transformation as well as initiatives of the MSMEs, NGOs, and the different government agencies by leveraging on the technical expertise of the group. We also aim to develop the next generation technology leaders in the country. I also sit as the country chair for G100 under security and defense and I represent the Philippines in the Southeast Asia Cybersecurity Consortium.

I have a day job in Gogolook. I am the Southeast Asian Regional Director in Gogolook and also an advisor on matters around data risk. I also stand as the Philippines Representative on matters concerning business growth, business development, partnerships, regulations, and compliance. I highly promote our advocacy  which is the “fight for a scam-free Pilipinas”. We empower Filipinos by providing them a sense of digital protection through the use of the Whoscall mobile app, which they can download in Google Play Store and App Store. We work with the government and private sector to help enable trust on strengthening cyber hygiene for Filipinos. We aim to produce more interesting features within the mobile app to continuously scale up the awareness and protection for all digital users.

Gogolook has been a leader in TrustTech for over a decade. Can you elaborate on how Gogolook's definition of "TrustTech" has evolved over the years, especially in the context of emerging technologies like Web3?

Gogolook excels in using data science as well as AI as its core technology to establish trust within the digital environment. This includes trust between people, business enterprises, customers, and also within the AI ecosystem as well. By leveraging technology to enhance trust, as well as creating transparency, we can eliminate issues related to scam and information asymmetry. Our service advantages are based on two key strengths.

The first one is our database and then the second would be our AI technology. For the first one, the Gogolook scam prevention database contains more than 2.6 billion phone numbers, making it the most comprehensive one within Southeast Asia. In addition to that, we do have a complete domain database and a technical partnership with ScamAdviser which forms the foundation for developing AI-based anti-scam technology. For the second one, since 2014, we have been training models already using machine learning to proactively detect and manage abnormal communications as well as fraud or scam behaviors. With the emergence of gen AI, we continuously integrate the latest technologies into our services and this has been a continuing process for us. Over the years, the definition of trust-tech has also evolved. It also focuses on the broader range of trust building technologies, and this includes ensuring digital identities which foster transparency between entities that we deal with in the online space.

Gogolook partners with various government agencies across the region. Can you elaborate on the benefits of these partnerships for both Gogolook and the partnering agencies?

Our main anti-scam partnership can be categorized into two. One is actually on the government side, which is in the public sector. The second one is corporate as part of the private sector. Let's zero in on the discussion on the government side.

With the rise of AI-driven scams, every country is actually making its own anti-scam measure as a significant policy priority. As a provider of anti-scam services, we leverage our large user base as well as our advanced product technology team to help governments reduce the threat of scams through these different technological tools and advancements that Gogolook is actually doing. Additionally, many government agencies collaborate with us to promote anti-scam education, covering everyone from the academy up to the senior citizens. Practically everyone, regardless of your social economic status or situation within the community. Here in the Philippines, we have partnered with the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center. They are the government arm that is entrusted to fight against scams and fraud. If we look at Thailand, we do have a strong partnership with the Royal Thai Police. We also partnered with the Taiwan National Police in Taiwan. Malaysia is also a growing country for us, so we also have a good partnership with PDRM or the Malaysia Royal Police. On the corporate side, we also do have some partnerships and these are things we want to further hone.

As governments strengthen their anti-scam efforts, key players within the private sector of each country that we operate in started to align with these policies, taking on responsibilities around fraud and scam prevention. This does not only protect our customers, but it also enhances the company's Environment, Social, and Governance value (ESG). Here in the Philippines, I'm happy to share that we do have a partnership with GoTyme Digital Bank which is part of the Gokongwei conglomerate. In the parent country, which is Taiwan, we do have a strong partnership with CTBC Bank. We also have a partnership with SCB Bank in Thailand, one of the top five banks in Thailand. On the Telco side, we have partnered with Maxis in Malaysia.

What are your predictions for the future of TrustTech in the next 5-10 years? What challenges and opportunities do you see on the horizon for Gogolook? 

Let me cite a third party research. Our industry encompasses digital scam prevention, digital identities, and regulatory technology with the global market of compounded annual gross revenue estimated between 18% to 22% and the market size exceeding more than 250 billion USD. But of course, we also need to recognize some challenges because recognizing these challenges vis-a-vis the risk would help us better prepare for the future. Scam evolves rapidly, unfortunately. We need to continuously enhance our scam prevention technologies, continuously expand our database, continuously train our models, and attract more partners to join us. At the end of the day, this is also a larger community effort.

On the perspective of opportunities, despite being there in the industry for more than 12 years and leading in many markets in Asia such as Taiwan and Thailand, I see that the Philippines is a new market, an emerging market. We entered our business here in August of last year. We are able to provide significant room for user growth. Additionally, we look forward to cooperating with more local businesses to offer solutions like our anti-scam intelligence, which we see especially if you are into a highly regulated financial industry or even if your business is heavy on the digital space, we strongly believe that our anti-scam intelligence solution will surely help the different areas of due diligence within your respective business enterprise. By partnering on technology and database licensing, we can integrate our anti-scam solutions into different digital services, creating new growth opportunities.

Mel Migirño is the SEA Regional Director and Philippines Representative of Gogolook. On a regional scale, Mel supports the programs and initiatives and provides expert advice on regulations and compliance to information security and privacy. Locally, Mel is responsible for driving Gogolook's expansion and business growth, identifying and securing strategic partnerships with local companies, and regularly communicating performance and progress to Gogolook's headquarters in Taiwan. She is an important figure in achieving Gogolook’s mission of combating scams and fraud in the region.  As seen in her, Mel is fiercely passionate about achieving a scam and fraud-free region. She firmly believes that education is the key to preventing scams and fraud.

Visit www.techshake.asia if you would like to know and connect more with Gogolook.