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APAC companies face rising wave of sophisticated fraud amid calls for greater cross-sector collaboration

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GBG Global Fraud Report surveyed over 500 fraud prevention professionals across Asia Pacific (APAC) to reveal how they combat fraud

  • 97% of respondents in Asia Pacific are concerned about the trend towards more organised and widespread fraud, with 77% noticing a significant increase in fraud sophistication over the past 12 months.
  • Increases in various types of fraud across all industries surveyed, particularly digital presence impersonation (41%), account takeovers (40%), bonus or promotion abuse (39%), and money laundering and money mules (39%).


SINGAPORE – Media OutReach Newswire – August 6, 2024 – New research from GBG, a leading expert in global identity and location, reveals that almost all businesses in the APAC region are concerned about more organized and widespread fraud. The findings are part of GBG’s new Global Fraud Report 2024, which surveys businesses in Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines in the banking, e-commerce, financial services, financial technology, gaming, insurance, lending and telecommunications sectors to assess the level and types of fraud, its impact on businesses and how they are responding.

APAC Fraud Landscape

Against the backdrop of an increasingly sophisticated and organized fraud landscape, 70% of fraud prevention professionals have seen an increase in attempted frauds compared to the previous year, significantly higher than in EMEA (55%) and the United States (US) (48%). This is linked to the prevalence of opportunistic and convenience frauds as a significant risk for almost two-thirds (63%) of respondents surveyed.

In terms of financial risk, 11% of respondents said the average transaction value of attempted fraud in their organization was between $35,000 and $50,000.

What are the most concerning fraud vectors?

Fraud prevention experts in the region see GenAI as the most important trend in identity verification and financial fraud prevention over the next three to five years. 35% of respondents in Asia Pacific see it as the most threatening, compared to 27% in EMEA and the US.

There are multiple reasons for this growing concern: 27% of respondents see GenAI as a tool to create more convincing synthetic identities, and 26% believe GenAI will increase the accuracy of fake IDs and have a strong impact on phishing and smishing.

Are businesses well prepared to fight fraud?

Despite the emergence of new technologies, including artificial intelligence, that enable fraudsters to evolve their tactics, almost one in five (19%) fraud prevention professionals do not have the right technologies in place to combat advanced criminal networks that combine cybercrime, fraud, identity theft and money laundering to carry out complex scams.

This problem is compounded by the lack of risk signals at the top of the sales funnel. Twenty-eight percent of respondents said their biggest challenge is understanding the latest fraud trends, while 27% said one of their biggest challenges is identifying and preventing fraud during the customer journey, especially when balancing this need with a seamless customer journey.

Expectations and reality of cross-border cooperation

Most fraud prevention experts agree that sharing identity information and collaborating across sectors can be a strategic differentiator in combating fraud, with New Zealand (97%) and the Philippines (88%) leading the way. In fact, 81% of respondents are now part of an identity information consortium that connects transactions around the world and shares international consumer information across companies, sectors and national borders.

However, despite this strong desire, less than half are taking active steps to collectively combat fraud by participating in industry forums and knowledge sharing (47%), investing in technology solutions that facilitate secure data exchange (46%) and working with law enforcement to share information (46%).

Currently, 83% of respondents believe that organizations are too concerned about maintaining a competitive advantage to participate in collaboration to combat fraud. Additionally, almost 4 in 5 (79%) believe that global governments are not doing enough to support cross-sector collaboration.

Burnout is common among fraud fighters

All respondents (100%) said they were concerned about the risk that fraud poses to their organization. The biggest challenges that kept them up at night were identity verification (46%) and insufficient resources (44%).

The heavy workload is also resulting in poorer mental well-being for fraud prevention staff – almost three-quarters of them (70%) have been victims of fraud themselves.

In the report, Carol Chris, General Manager, APAC at GBGexplained: “Our latest research paints a worrying picture of the fraud landscape in APAC. Not only are organizations facing a dramatic increase in fraud attempts, but these attacks are becoming increasingly organized and complex thanks to technologies like Generative AI.

“Collaboration across industries is essential to combat fraud, but first we need to address the existing problems. We urge businesses to go beyond the competition and work together to outsmart fraudsters. This will not only protect organisations but also provide crucial support to fraud prevention professionals on the front lines.” she added.

For more information and to download the full Global Fraud Report, visit: https://hubs.ly/Q02HVSYq0

About the study

The study was conducted via an online survey by Censuswide. Censuswide surveyed 520 chief executive officers, vice presidents, directors and managers in risk/fraud, operations and compliance roles between May 16 and May 24, 2024, on the following questions:

  • Sectors: Financial services (including superannuation), insurance, fintech (including payments and money transfers), banking, lending, telecommunications, e-commerce, gaming and betting
  • Company size (revenue): 1 billion pounds
  • Countries: Australia (213), New Zealand (100), Malaysia (52), Indonesia (52), Thailand (52), Philippines (51)

Hashtag: #GBG #FraudDetection #IdentityVerification

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GBG Joint Stock Company

GBG is a leading expert in global identity and location. In an increasingly digital world, GBG helps businesses thrive by providing the intelligence to make the best decisions for their customers when it matters most.

Every second, our global data, powerful technology and expert teams help more than 20,000 of the world’s most iconic organizations reach their customers and earn their trust.

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