New research from GBG, the leading expert in global identity and location, has revealed almost all APAC businesses are worried about the more organised and widespread fraud. The findings are part of GBG's new Global Fraud Report 2024, surveying businesses in Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines in banking, eCommerce, financial services, FinTech, gaming, insurance, lending and telecommunications to gauge levels and types of fraud, how this is impacting businesses and how they are responding.

APAC fraud landscape

Against the backdrop of the increasingly sophisticated and organised fraud landscape, 70% of fraud prevention professionals have experienced an uptick in fraud attempts compared to the previous year, significantly more than EMEA (55%) and the United States (US) (48%). This is coupled by the prevalence of opportunistic and convenient fraud as a pertinent threat for almost two thirds (63%) of the respondents surveyed.

In terms of the financial risks, 11% shared that the average transactional value of attempted fraud attacks at their organisation is between US$35,000 to US$50,000.

What are the most concerning fraud vectors?

Fraud prevention professionals in the region recognise the evolution of GenAI as the most significant trend in identification verification and financial fraud in the next three to five years, with 35% in APAC that believe it is the most threatening, compared to 27% in EMEA and the US respectively.

This growing concern is due to a myriad of reasons. 27% perceived GenAI as a tool to create more convincing synthetic identities, with 26% believing that GenAI will increase the accuracy of fake ID documents and possess a strong influence on phishing and smishing.

Are businesses well prepared to fend off fraud?

Despite the emergence of new technologies including AI in enabling fraudsters to evolve their tactics, almost a fifth (19%) of fraud prevention professionals are not equipped with the right technologies to fight the advanced criminal networks that combine cybercrime, fraud, identity theft and money-laundering to execute end-to-end fraud.

This is exacerbated by the absence of risk signals at the top of their businesses' funnel. 28% find understanding the latest fraud trends as their biggest challenge, and 27% indicated that identifying and stopping fraud at the point of customer onboarding is one of the biggest challenges, especially when balancing this need with a frictionless customer journey process.

Expectations versus reality of cross-border collaboration

Most fraud prevention professionals acknowledge cross-sector identity intelligence sharing and collaboration can be a strategic differentiator in beating fraud, with New Zealand (97%) and the Philippines (88%) leading the way. In fact, 81% of respondents are currently part of an identity intelligence consortium, which connect transactions taking place around the world and share international consumer intelligence between businesses, across sectors and national borders.

However, despite having such a strong desire, less than half are taking active steps to collectively combat fraud by participating in industry forums and knowledge exchange (47%), investing in tech solutions facilitating secure data exchange (46%), and partnering with law enforcement agencies for information sharing (46%).

Today, 83% of respondents surveyed believe organisations are too worried about maintaining a competitive advantage to participate in collaboration to combat fraud. On top of this, almost 4 in 5 (79%) believe global governments are not doing enough to support cross-sector collaboration.

Burnout is common for those fighting fraud

All respondents (100%) said they were losing sleep over the risks that fraud poses to their organisations, with verification of identity (46%) and insufficient resources (44%) identified as the top challenges that keep them up at night.

The heavy burden has also resulted in poorer mental well-being of fraud prevention professionals, with almost three quarters (70%) being victims of fraud themselves.

On the report, Carol Chris, General Manager, APAC at GBG, elaborated: "Our latest research paints a concerning picture of the fraud landscape in APAC. Businesses are not only facing a surge in fraud attempts, but these attacks are becoming more organised and complex due to technologies like Generative AI."

"It is imperative that collaboration across industries comes to the fore to combat fraud, but we must first address the existing pain points. We urge businesses to move past competition and work together to out manoeuvre fraudsters. This will not only protect organisations but also offer critical support to the fraud prevention professionals on the frontline," she added.

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

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