Mobile Scam Threat Grows as GSMA Urges Telco Action

The number of consumers scammed across Southeast Asia climbs sharply, according to a new GSMA report.

Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) are now urged to take stronger steps as scams increasingly target the core services they provide.

The ASEAN Consumer Scam Report 2025: Victims Rising, Defences Under Strain outlines a 45% increase in the number of victims, up from 31% to 45% in just one year.

The data confirms mobile-based scams are accelerating, with mobile calls, messages and social platforms now the most common entry points for criminal activity.

For the GSMA, which represents mobile operators worldwide, this trend is a direct warning to telecom companies.

Julian Gorman, Head of Asia Pacific, GSMA, says: “Consumer trust is the bedrock of ASEAN’s digital economy. Our latest data reveals a crisis of confidence. People are changing how they behave online – and in some cases, walking away altogether.

"Unless we act decisively and together, we risk losing the momentum that digitalisation has built across Southeast Asia.”

The message is clear: MNOs must evolve their role from carriers of communication to active protectors of consumer trust and safety.

Mobile networks under pressure as scam tactics evolve

The report finds that mobile networks are the primary channel used for scams across the ASEAN region.

Criminals exploit everything from voice calls to over-the-top (OTT) messaging platforms and SMS to trick users into providing sensitive personal or financial data.

The report says: “Involvement is overwhelmingly mobile and multi-channel: victims most often cite OTT messaging, voice calls and social platforms, with SMS and email still present”.

These methods typically form a coordinated scam, combining social engineering with phishing attempts and fake support calls.

The growing complexity of these campaigns makes piecemeal defences ineffective.

The GSMA recommends that MNOs focus their protection efforts at the point of entry.

“Defences must be channel-specific, caller display and screening for voice, sender-ID and content controls for SMS, rapid platform escalation for suspicious behaviour on social media and tighter app-to-person guardrails in OTT," the report argues.

This means developing safeguards tailored to each channel.

Screening technology for calls, stricter identification checks for SMS senders and improved content moderation on messaging platforms are all part of this strategy.

Opportunity for MNOs to lead with trust and innovation

While the threat is growing, the GSMA also identifies a strong market opportunity.

The report notes that 81% of consumers would switch financial providers for stronger security, signalling that trust is now a key competitive edge.

The GSMA outlines two main strategies for MNOs to enhance protection: securing high-risk channels and sharing targeted network signals.

1. Secure the primary attack routes

MNOs are encouraged to reinforce their defences where most scams begin.

The report advises: "Focus on the channels that matter most: voice and OTT voice/messaging. Expand verified caller display and screening on risky calls; tighten SMS sender-ID regimes to counter impersonation; scale takedown and escalation pathways with social platforms for pattern recognition of suspicious activity."

This kind of intervention makes it more difficult for scammers to deceive users, disrupting fraudulent activity before it can succeed.

2. Share verified signals, not personal data

With 97% of consumers expressing concern about privacy, the GSMA underlines the importance of low-risk, high-impact data sharing.

The report finds that 72% of users support the use of limited, purpose-specific signals, with approval rising to 78% when sharing is confined to suspicious activity.

The report explains: “The practical role for operators is to expose simple yes/no Digital Identity signals, for example, number verification, recent SIM-change flags, device status, coarse location confidence or call-forwarding state at specific high-risk moments (new-device login, password reset, large transfer, QR payment)”.

These signals, similar to those enabled by GSMA’s Open Gateway APIs, offer MNOs a new way to contribute to fraud prevention while also developing new commercial services.

These tools allow banking and financial technology firms to prevent account takeovers in real time, using non-invasive mobile network insights.

Improving coordination and reporting through AI and collaboration

The report also stresses that manual approaches no longer keep pace with scam tactics, especially as artificial intelligence (AI) becomes part of scam operations.

GSMA says: "Mobile networks are starting to use AI-driven pattern recognition to spot emerging scam tactics in real time, at a scale manual rules can’t match."

By deploying AI at the network edge – where data flows in and out – MNOs can identify suspicious activity across voice, SMS and app traffic without directly inspecting content.

This approach enhances detection while maintaining user privacy.

Beyond technology, the report calls for greater collaboration.

Scam victims currently report incidents to banks, law enforcement or tech platforms individually, which causes delays and missed connections.

Victims report scams to a mix of banks, police and platforms, meaning “no single institution sees the full picture, so cases fall through the cracks without coordinated handoffs”.

The recommendation is for MNOs to help create a seamless, joined-up process where all reports are captured and passed to the appropriate stakeholders.

This "no-wrong-door" system could help rebuild user trust and provide faster resolutions to scam cases.