Two new reports from the GSMA (GSM Association), launched at the Digital Trust Summit during M360 ASEAN, have found that online scams and digital fraud are increasingly undermining trust in digital services across Southeast Asia, potentially affecting the region’s broader digital ambitions.
GSMA Report: Scams Remain Prevalent In ASEAN
The first report – GSMA ASEAN Consumer Scam Report 2026 – found that 45% of reported scam cases across Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam remain unresolved, despite consumers taking more precautions to protect themselves. It noted that consumers with unresolved cases reported lower levels of trust in communications channels, digital platforms and data-sharing practices, with many altering how they engage with digital services and inbound communications as a result.
Nearly one in ten consumers surveyed (8%) reported being scammed in the previous 12 months. Among those affected, 68% lost money, and of that group, 82% recovered none of their losses, while only 10% recovered the full amount. Consumers who experienced scams were found to be more than twice as likely to switch accounts or service providers compared with those who had not been affected.
Additional findings include: 96% of consumers expressed concern about being scammed or hacked, and nearly nine in ten recognized at least one form of AI being used in scam activity. While 69% of victims reported the scams they experienced, 45% of these reported cases remained unresolved.
Messaging apps emerged as the most common channel through which consumers encountered scams, accounting for 41% of scam experiences, while consumer association of major digital platforms with scams has increased across the region. The report also noted a shift in scam activity toward investment, cryptocurrency, online shopping and job scams, where victims are persuaded to transfer money directly.
Trust Is Key Factor In ASEAN’s Digital Economy
The second report – Digital Nations 2026: Building Trusted Digital Ecosystems in ASEAN – argues that trust has become a key factor in the success of the region’s digital economy, AI adoption, digital government initiatives and cross-border digital integration. The report states that confidence in digital infrastructure, services and institutions increasingly determines whether digitalization efforts lead to adoption, innovation, investment and broader socioeconomic impact.
Emerging technologies are also said to be reshaping the nature of digital trust, noting that AI is enabling more sophisticated phishing attacks, deepfakes, voice cloning and digital impersonation, making it harder to distinguish legitimate interactions from fraudulent ones. As a result, the report states that digital trust increasingly depends on the ecosystem’s ability to verify identities, authenticate communications, strengthen resilience and share trusted intelligence to prevent harm before it occurs.
The report identifies four interconnected foundations of digital trust: identity, referring to the ability to verify people and organizations in digital environments; communications, or confidence in the authenticity and integrity of digital interactions; resilient networks, covering the infrastructure and cybersecurity capabilities that keep digital services available and secure; and collective intelligence, which involves the creation, sharing and use of trusted information to strengthen digital system security and integrity.
These foundations requires coordination across governments, regulators, mobile operators, financial institutions, digital platforms and other ecosystem participants, the report said. It notes that mobile operators, traditionally viewed primarily as connectivity providers, are increasingly contributing to all four trust foundations through identity verification, network security, fraud prevention, authentication services and trusted intelligence-sharing initiatives across the region.
Pokdepinion: There’s a long way to go to keep scams away, and AI is certainly not helping in this regard.
