BioCatch report underscores evolving fraud landscape in APAC

BioCatch has published its 2024 Digital Banking Fraud Trends in APAC report, highlighting significant trends in the fraud landscape within the region. The report provides a detailed analysis of scams in Australia and their evolving nature.

Key insights from the report indicate that 70% of all digital fraud now originates from mobile apps, marking a 17% increase from 2022. Additionally, there has been a 108% surge in reported voice scams in 2023. Conversely, Australia has witnessed a 48% reduction in money lost to fraud in the first quarter of 2024 compared to 2023, alongside a 20% decrease in case volume. Furthermore, there has been an 86% drop in remote access fraud from 2021 to 2023.

A new financial crime report released today reveals that criminal organisations in the APAC region are outsourcing the laundering of stolen money to international syndicates specialising in money laundering. BioCatch identified and helped APAC banks shut down more than 150,000 money mule accounts in 2023, with exponentially more such accounts believed to be in use across the region.

"Where there are scams, there are mules," said Tom Peacock, BioCatch's Director of Global Fraud Intelligence. "Criminal organisations use these mule accounts as intermediate stops between the victim's bank account and the final account from which they plan to withdraw their stolen money."

"The mules we've identified almost certainly represent a tiny fraction of those actively laundering money in the region, with more cropping up every day. Financial institutions in APAC and around the world must do more to identify these mules, hamper their ability to open new accounts, and identify those legitimate accounts money launderers succeed in turning from good to bad," Peacock said.

The report points to mobile malware as the greatest threat to banks in Southeast Asia in 2024. "Whether through SMS-mining or illegal loan apps, we've seen an explosion in Android-based malware in the region," said Peacock. "Malware developers continue to innovate, circumventing bank and Google Play Store defences to harvest what they need from mobile devices to access digital banking accounts and then transfer away the victim's funds to a money mule."

Despite the challenges, there is optimism about the fight against fraud in APAC. In Australia, the number of reported scam cases grew by 13% in 2023, but scam losses declined by AUD $90 million.

"Nine out of the 10 largest Australian banks employ BioCatch solutions to protect their customers from fraud and financial crime by analysing the behaviour of the user behind every online banking session," said Richard Booth, BioCatch APAC Vice President. "Already in 2024, we see massive progress: Money lost to fraud in the country declined by 48% in the first quarter of this year compared to Q1 of 2023. It's difficult to reach any conclusion other than that BioCatch has left Australian digital-banking customers far safer from fraud than they were before."

BioCatch's report also highlights other key findings. Fraud originating from mobile apps accounted for 70% of all reported cases in APAC in 2023, an increase of 17% from the previous year. The number of reported voice scams rose by 108% in 2023. In contrast, Australia experienced a decline in fraud losses and fewer fraud cases involving malware or Remote Administration Tools (RATs) in 2023 compared to 2022.