BioCatch’s 2024 Digital Banking Fraud Trends in APAC Report released on June 26, 2024, reveals how criminal organisations in the APAC region now outsource the laundering of money stolen via scams to international syndicates specialising in this cleaning.
Digital fraud detection specialists BioCatch identified and helped APAC banks shut down more than 150,000 money mule accounts in 2023 but estimates that there are exponentially more such accounts in use across the region.
“Where there are scams, there are mules,” said BioCatch Director of Global Fraud Intelligence Tom Peacock. “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 that 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.”
The report points to mobile malware as the greatest threat to banks in Southeast Asia in 2024. Other key insights in the report include:
- 70% of all digital fraud now comes from mobile apps, a 17% increase from 2022;
- There has been a 108% rise in voice scams reported in 2023;
- Money lost to fraud in Australia has decreased by 48% in the first quarter of 2024 in comparison to 2023. The case volume has also decreased by around 20%; and
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86% drop in remote access fraud from 2021 to 2023.
“Whether through SMS-mining or illegal loan apps, we’ve seen an explosion in Android-based malware in the region,” Peacock said. “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.”
However, there is reason for hope in fighting fraud in APAC. In Australia, the number of reported scam cases grew by 13% in 2023, but scam losses declined by AUD90 million.
“Already in 2024, we see massive progress,” said BioCatch APAC Vice President Richard Booth. “Money lost to fraud in the country declined by 48% in the first quarter of this year compared to Q1 of 2023.”
You can read the full report here.
