Industry and regulators urged to treat fraud as an ecosystem

Industry experts say fraudsters have shifted from technical exploits to targeting human vulnerabilities, and that fraud powered by synthetic media and automation is harder to detect. Interpol estimates fraud enhanced by AI is about 4.5 times more profitable than traditional methods, a figure experts cite to explain rising sophistication and scale.

Speakers at an upcoming webinar hosted with payments firm Ecommpay and moderated by Teresa Connors will examine how systems and processes must change. The event will feature Willem Wellinghoff, UK chair and chief compliance officer at Ecommpay, among other industry figures discussing regulatory and operational responses.

Panelists describe a fragmented response across the financial sector. Individual firms build their own fraud-prevention tools and frameworks while sharing of intelligence between companies remains limited. That fragmentation makes it harder to spot campaigns that use synthetic identities or cross platforms and borders.

Multiple regulators and oversight bodies have responsibilities that touch on fraud prevention, so no single authority currently holds end-to-end oversight. Panelists say regulatory reform should create clearer lines of responsibility across sectors and jurisdictions while allowing rules that reflect differences in firm size, risk exposure and resources.

Speakers call for lawful, secure mechanisms for sharing fraud intelligence. They argue shared data could speed detection, harmonise reporting and enable coordinated responses to large-scale scams. Questions remain about who would operate any shared system, how to meet data privacy requirements and how liability would be apportioned when shared intelligence triggers enforcement or customer actions.

Discussion will cover standardised fraud processes. Proponents say common procedures could streamline information exchange and reporting. Critics point to drawbacks: a single process could impose heavy costs on smaller firms, may not match different industry threat profiles and would need trusted governance and steady funding to function.

Participants point to a possible neutral, non-profit platform to host cross-industry intelligence and response tools. Legal and commercial obstacles have so far blocked such a solution, including limited willingness to share proprietary data, uncertainty over compliance with privacy and competition rules, and the lack of an agreed governance model.

As fraud tactics shift toward social manipulation aided by synthetic media and automation, speakers say device- and transaction-focused controls no longer catch many threats. The webinar aims to explore how regulators, firms and technology providers can align oversight and share intelligence to match the scale and profitability of modern fraud.