Deepfakes balloon by 147% despite 43% downturn in fraud volume

The region ranks amongst APAC’s top fraud hotspots in 2025.

Hong Kong is one of the 20 Asia Pacific countries with the highest fraud rates in 2025, despite a significant 43% year-on-year decline, according to a Sumsub report.

The region’s deepfake incidents also ballooned by 147% year on year, despite the low overall volume.

The report also recorded that approximately 2% of approved applicants were involved in fraud networks.

To combat the “Sophistication Shift”, Hong Kong’s Stablecoin Ordinance—effective 1 August 2025—established a licensing regime for fiat-referenced stablecoin issuers, restricting issuance to regulated entities and requiring strict reserve, redemption, and identity verification standards to mitigate fraud and consumer risks.

The Legislative Council also passed the Banking (Amendment) Bill, establishing a voluntary framework supervised by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), allowing authorised institutions to share account and transaction data with each other and with law enforcement.

It also provides safe harbour protections for good-faith disclosures, enabling faster detection of mule accounts and cross-bank fraud networks.

The Anti-Scam Consumer Protection Charter 3.0—launched on 9 July 2025—expands cooperation among regulators, telecom operators, social media platforms, and financial institutions to enhance scam advertisement monitoring, advertiser vetting, the takedown of fraudulent promotions, and consumer reporting channels.

The HKMA, Hong Kong Police, and the Hong Kong Association of Banks initiated a coordinated crackdown on mule accounts. Safety measures were strengthened across banks and courts, alongside a public awareness campaign.

Despite cross-border activity using complex synthetic and deepfake-based attacks, mature financial infrastructure and coordinated enforcement efforts dampened the overall volume of fraud, the report said.

“The good news is that the region is also leading the counterattack. Regulators in Singapore and Hong Kong are setting new benchmarks for scam prevention and AI governance, fintechs are deploying behavioural AI at scale, and collaboration between banks, telecoms, and digital platforms is accelerating. APAC isn’t just catching up to global standards—it’s defining the future of proactive, AI-aware fraud prevention,” said Penny Chai, VP of Business Development APAC at Sumsub.