Infobip research reveals APAC businesses scaling AI-powered defenses to counter surge in automated fraud

Fraudsters are leveraging AI to automate and personalize attacks, but enterprises are fighting back

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, July 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- New research from global AI-first cloud communications platform Infobip reveals a growing surge in AI-powered fraud and enterprise defenses. Analyzing billions of interactions globally, Infobip's 2026 Fraud & Security Report highlights a year of dramatic contrasts. There have been record volumes of blocked fraudulent traffic alongside the rapid scaling of intelligent, AI-powered defenses.

The report reveals that while fraudsters are using AI to scale and personalize harmful messaging, leading to a 77% increase in detected threats, businesses are responding in kind. Adoption of AI-powered fraud detection grew by 71% year-on-year, while pattern-based detection increased by 105%, underscoring a shift toward adaptive security.

Matija Ražem, Chief Commercial Telecom Officer at Infobip, said: "Fraudsters are using AI to automate and scale campaigns faster than ever, but AI-powered protection is evolving just as fast. The significant growth in AI-driven detection proves that leading organizations are no longer treating security as an afterthought, they are building it directly into their communication infrastructure."

The report also highlights distinct fraud trends emerging across the Asia Pacific region.

Across APAC, enterprises are navigating an increasingly complex fraud environment as digital engagement and mobile-first banking continue to accelerate. At the network level, APAC is among the most technologically advanced regions based on Infobip data. Operator firewalls are highly automated, while mature AI-powered detection models can identify and block most threats without human intervention.

At the enterprise level, however, OTP-based fraud remains a significant challenge in several key markets. Certain territories continue to record elevated suspicious authentication rates, indicating structural fraud patterns rather than isolated campaigns.

Regulatory scrutiny is also intensifying across the region. In countries such as the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, and India, regulators have introduced stronger authentication requirements, reflecting a broader regional shift toward treating SMS OTP vulnerabilities as both a security and compliance priority.

This growing focus on fraud prevention is driving stronger enterprise action across APAC. For example, PLDT Enterprise strengthened security across Smart's network after deploying Infobip's SMS and Voice Firewall. The deployment helped reduce spam, smishing, and fraudulent SMS traffic, blocking more than 1.3 billion spam and fraud attempts while improving SMS delivery and overall network security.

"In APAC's rapidly growing digital economy, trust is emerging as a key competitive advantage, and businesses need to make Network APIs a core part of their fraud prevention and authentication strategy. Companies should consider leveraging Network APIs' capabilities such as Number Verify, SIM Swap detection, KYC Match, and Device Location Verification to better stay ahead of evolving threats while delivering seamless customer experiences. By taking this a step further and orchestrating these capabilities through a CPaaS platform, businesses can create a centralized, resilient security framework that helps reduce fraud without disrupting the user experience," commented Goran Valjak, Director of Telecom Growth and Strategy Asia at Infobip.

Download the full Fraud & Security Trends 2026 report to find out more insights: https://bit.ly/3R2W9pl.

About Infobip

Infobip is a global cloud communications platform that enables businesses to build connected experiences across all stages of the customer journey, with AI as the driving force of innovation. Through a single, natively built platform, Infobip delivers omnichannel engagement, identity, user authentication and contact centre solutions that help businesses and partners overcome the complexity of consumer communications while driving growth and increasing customer loyalty. Infobip is focused on enabling and accelerating AI adoption as it continues its transformation into an AI-first company. Infobip's technology has the capacity to reach over seven billion mobile devices in 6 continents connected to 10k+ connections of which 800+ are direct operator connections. The company was established in 2006 and is led by its co-founders, CEO Silvio Kutić and CTO Izabel Jelenić.

Recent award wins include:

Infobip ranked #16 in Fortune's Europe's Most Innovative Companies 2026 (June 2026), up from its inaugural #68 ranking in 2025. Infobip named a Leader in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) for the fourth consecutive year. Positioned furthest for Completeness of Vision for the second time (May 2026) Infobip named the number one Established Leader in the Juniper Research RCS for Business 2026 Leaderboard (Feb 2026)  Infobip recognized as a growth and innovation leader in Frost Radar™: Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) by Frost & Sullivan (Oct 2025) Infobip ranked as the number one Established Leader in the Juniper Research Mobile Messaging Fraud Prevention Market report (Sept 2025) Infobip ranked as a Leader in the Omdia CPaaS Universe Report for the third time (April 2025) Infobip ranked an Established Leader in the Juniper Research Conversational AI Leaderboard (Feb 2025) Infobip named a CPaaS Leader for the third time in the IDC MarketScape (Feb 2025) Infobip named one of the top CPaaS providers in Metrigy's CPaaS MetriRank Report (Dec 2024)  Infobip recognized as the number one provider in the AIT Fraud Prevention market by Juniper Research (Oct 2024)