A webinar hosted by Fintech News HK convened APAC banks, fintechs and fraud professionals to examine the rapid rise in generative AI enabled scams and deepfake activity, underscoring a pressing need for tighter fraud controls and stronger identity checks across the region.
THREAT LANDSCAPE
Speakers and materials for the event highlighted that generative AI had made fraud more convincing and easier to scale, a dynamic reflected in a 456 percent rise in reported Gen AI-enabled scams between May 2024 and April 2025. The webinar also cited sharply increased deepfake activity in APAC, a trend that industry participants said amplified risks for account takeover, social engineering and synthetic identity fraud.
Presenters framed the problem as twofold: first, automated content generation had reduced the cost and time required to create realistic fake audio and video; second, that same technology lowered the barrier for producing false identity material at scale. Together these factors intensified exposure for customer-facing channels that rely on digital identity verification, including onboarding, transaction authentication and call centre interactions.
IMPLICATIONS FOR BANKS AND FINTECHS
Panelists described mounting pressure on banks and fintechs across APAC to tighten controls. Institutions were reported to be reassessing identity proofing and authentication workflows, and to be placing greater emphasis on layered defences that combined automated detection with manual review where needed. The webinar framed such steps as attempts to preserve transactional security while limiting friction for legitimate customers.
Industry participants discussed trade-offs that are familiar to risk teams: stronger identity checks reduce fraud losses but can increase operational costs and consumer friction. Firms in the webinar underlined the importance of balancing those outcomes, and of integrating new detection signals into existing fraud platforms rather than creating isolated, single-purpose tools. Cross-border customers and remittance flows were identified as particular pain points because they complicate identity verification and increase reliance on external data sources.
Vendors and service providers were reported to have an expanding role, supplying specialised detection capabilities that analyse biometric patterns, metadata and behaviour to flag likely deepfakes or synthetic identities. The webinar also noted the growing market for managed services that combine technology with human analysts to adjudicate suspicious cases.
REGULATORY AND MARKET RESPONSE
The session addressed the regulatory context in APAC, where supervisors and industry bodies were described as paying closer attention to the operational and conduct risks associated with synthetic media and AI driven fraud. Participants discussed the potential for heightened supervisory expectations around customer due diligence and incident reporting, and they emphasised the need for clearer standards for identity verification that accounted for AI specific threats.
Market implications extended beyond compliance. Firms that failed to adapt risked higher fraud losses and reputational damage, while those that invested in robust defences faced integration and cost challenges. Several speakers recommended industry collaboration on threat intelligence and shared detection signatures, noting that collective responses could reduce the outsize advantage fraudsters gain from reusable AI tools.
The webinar, as reported, consolidated a common view among APAC financial firms that the pace of technological change required faster operational adaptation and closer cooperation with regulators and vendors. In that environment, institutions were described as prioritising detection upgrades, stronger identity proofing and increased oversight of high risk channels.
Sources: Fintech News HK