Four in ten Singapore firms plan to raise fraud prevention investment

Businesses are also targeting identity verification (54%) and content moderation (38%) as areas for increased spending.

A growing number of Singapore enterprises are stepping up their digital defenses, with 43% planning significant investment in fraud detection over the next 12 months.

The move comes as companies grapple with tighter compliance standards, rising cybercrime, and increasing customer expectations around security and transparency.

According to new research from TELUS Digital and Ryan Strategic Advisory, businesses are also targeting identity verification (54%) and content moderation (38%) as areas for increased spending.

The findings follow a reported 18% surge in cybercrime cases in Singapore in the first half of 2024, totalling nearly 29,000 incidents, as disclosed by the Singapore Police Force.

Business leaders say this spike, combined with costly fraud events and negative customer feedback, is driving urgency to act.

Despite growing interest in automation, most organizations continue to favor human-in-the-loop approaches. The report found that 79% of companies still involve humans in ID verification processes, whilst 56% do the same for fraud detection.

Still, scaling up these systems poses challenges. Compliance burdens (44%), technical talent shortages (39%), and the complexity of fraud prevention (34%) top the list of concerns.

Cost remains the biggest operational hurdle, with 27% citing it as the primary barrier to expanding trust and safety functions.