Introduction
Financial fraud is a major concern for consumers, financial institutions and digital commerce providers. Southeast Asia is a region where mobile usage, digital transactions and fintech adoption are all growing rapidly, which makes security and fraud prevention central rather than peripheral concerns.
This report examines consumer attitudes toward fraud across five markets, being Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, and explores the opportunities for mobile network operators to develop APIs that help fintech and digital commerce providers address those concerns.
The study draws on a consumer survey covering perceptions, preferences and concerns related to key API features and use cases developed for the GSMA Open Gateway project.
Where consumer concern concentrates
Fraud in financial transactions has emerged as one of the foremost consumer concerns across the region. In most markets a majority of respondents believe account security risks are going up, and between 14 and 20 per cent believe those risks are increasing rapidly.
Three areas dominate.
SIM-swap attacks. Fraud in which an attacker gains control of a mobile number by transferring it to a new SIM is a significant worry. Indonesia at 78 per cent and the Philippines at 71 per cent report the highest levels of concern. Singapore, though relatively more secure, still sees 50 per cent of consumers highly concerned.
Mobile payments and e-wallets. Adoption is high, with Malaysia at 75 per cent and Indonesia at 91 per cent, and heightened concern about platform vulnerability follows that adoption.
Personal data theft. More than 60 per cent of respondents in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines are very worried about the misuse or theft of personally identifiable information and financial data, concerns rooted in a growing number of high-profile regional breaches.
Who consumers hold responsible
Asked who is most responsible for preventing fraud, respondents across all five markets overwhelmingly pointed to account custodians, meaning banks, e-wallet providers and similar. Between 43 per cent in Malaysia and 62 per cent in Indonesia assigned primary responsibility to the companies operating the services.
Device manufacturers are also expected to play a role, more so in some markets than others. Twenty-nine per cent of Philippine respondents believe device manufacturers bear some responsibility, against 15 per cent in Indonesia.
Expectations of mobile network operators and government were fairly consistent, at around 10 to 13 per cent across all markets.
That distribution matters. It places banks and fintechs at the front of the consumer's mental model of fraud prevention, and leaves operators with a supporting role that consumers do not yet strongly associate with security.
The opportunity for operators
Mobile network operators are unusually well positioned to address these concerns. The signals they hold, covering SIM change, number verification and device status, are precisely the signals that would catch the fraud types consumers are most worried about.
By developing APIs that integrate with fintech platforms, banks and digital commerce providers, operators can offer enhanced security features, real-time fraud detection and data-sharing tools without exposing broad customer data.
The gap is not technical capability. It is that consumers do not currently expect operators to be part of the answer, which is both the challenge and the opening.