Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand share strategies to combat digital financial crime

The Bank of Thailand (BOT) on Friday hosted BOT Symposium 2025 under the theme “Towards Safer and More Inclusive Digital Finance”, providing a platform to discuss increasingly complex threats in digital finance. Representatives from central banks and financial regulators in the region participated, including Nancy Chau (Hong Kong Monetary Authority), Wenhua Chew (Monetary Authority of Singapore), Nor Halimaton Sa’adiah Abdul Halim (Bank Negara Malaysia), and Oramon Janthapan, Senior Director at the BOT.

Nancy Chau highlighted that the financial system faces new forms of attack akin to a cyber arms race. Regulators must strengthen the financial ecosystem through detection, intervention, and fund recovery, supported by legislative adjustments allowing banks to share customer data via the Bank Information Sharing platform. AI is being applied to monitor suspicious transactions, alongside public awareness campaigns targeting all age groups.

Wenhua Chew reported that scams remain severe, especially voluntary fund transfer fraud, which surged nearly 200% in the first half of 2025, causing losses exceeding SGD 126 million. Singapore has adopted integrated measures covering prevention, detection, law enforcement, fund recovery, and public awareness, emphasising that digital payment convenience must go hand-in-hand with security.

Nor Halimaton Sa’adiah Abdul Halim noted that 95% of online fraud involves victims confirming transactions themselves, including phishing and malware attacks. Malaysia has strengthened identity verification from SMS OTP to more robust systems, introduced cooling-off periods for transaction review, and implemented kill switch mechanisms to freeze accounts in emergencies. Authorities have also promoted shared responsibility between banks, telecoms, social media platforms, and users, so that losses are mitigated when banks cannot prevent fraud in time.

Oramon Janthapan explained that detection and prevention alone are insufficient. The key is to build resilience at the individual, societal, and systemic levels. Banks are mandated to issue continuous alerts and provide financial literacy to customers. Digital finance curricula are being introduced in schools, while partnerships with social media influencers extend outreach. New legislation also enables the creation of a Financial Risk Data Hub, connecting data from banks, telecoms, and online platforms to close gaps in information sharing.

The symposium concluded that digital financial threats cannot be addressed by any single organisation. Success requires full-system collaboration across government, finance, technology, and end-users. Public awareness, caution, and vigilance are essential to prevent increasingly sophisticated scams. In the words of the organisers, “prevention is the best shield”, ensuring that cybercriminals cannot gain a foothold in the digital economy.