Malaysia ranks second on GSMA index as ASEAN digital trust gap widens

The GSMA's Digital Nations Index 2026 places Malaysia behind only Singapore on infrastructure, data governance and AI policy, while a companion survey released a day earlier found 45% of reported scam cases across six ASEAN markets were never resolved.

Malaysia ranked second among ASEAN's digital nations in the GSMA's Digital Nations Index 2026, published last week as M360 ASEAN closed in Kuala Lumpur. The industry body also released survey findings showing that ASEAN digital trust is being tested faster than the region's infrastructure scores suggest, with 45% of reported scam cases across six markets never resolved.

The index places Malaysia behind Singapore and ahead of Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines, which the GSMA said were closely following. Malaysia's position is attributed to its AI Nation 2030 strategy, which the report links to digital infrastructure, data governance and cybersecurity policy. The rankings are set against ASEAN's stated target of a US$2 trillion digital economy by 2030, which GSMA director general Vivek Badrinath said now depends on connecting national strategies into a more integrated, interoperable regional market.

Fewer scams in Malaysia, worse outcomes

The GSMA ASEAN Consumer Scam Report 2026 puts Malaysia below the regional average on scam incidence and above it on financial damage. Malaysia recorded a 6% scam rate over the previous 12 months, against a six-market average of 8%. Of those Malaysian victims, 74% lost money, against a regional 68%.

Malaysia also records the region's heaviest concentration of scams on messaging apps, which featured in 51% of Malaysian cases. Across the six markets, messaging apps accounted for 41% of scam encounters, making them the most common channel. Unauthorized card charges and job scams each affected 33% of Malaysian victims.

In Malaysia, 65% said they were very worried about being scammed, against a regional 59%. Across all six markets, 96% expressed some concern.

The scam survey covers Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, not all ten ASEAN member states, and regional figures are the average of those six. It is based on an online survey of 3,000 adults, 500 per market, with fieldwork by Milieu Insight in August 2026. It is the third annual edition.

Two definitions carry weight. "Resolved" is the victim's own account of the outcome rather than case data held by a bank, operator or police force, so the 45% figure measures perception of redress. Victims also named 2.9 scam types on average, so scam-type shares total more than 100%.

Malaysians want the fix but withhold the input

The survey records a wide gap in Malaysia between what consumers expect of institutions and what they will give them to work with. Asked who should be stopping scams, 75% of Malaysian respondents pointed to digital platforms, while 55% said they would let a platform use their data. The equivalent gap for telcos is 16 points, the widest of any market surveyed.

Julian Gorman, head of Asia Pacific at the GSMA, said scams are more than a consumer protection issue. "They affect how we communicate, how we transact, how we respond to legitimate organizations, and how willing we are to share the data needed to protect them," he said.

Regionally, 68% of victims lost money and of those, 82% recovered none of it. Sixty-nine percent of victims took the case to an organization, most often a bank or the police, and 45% of those said it was never resolved. Victims were more than twice as likely as non-victims to move money or switch banks, e-wallet or mobile operator, at 25% against 11%.

The withdrawal extends past people who have been scammed. Across the six markets, 56% of consumers now avoid calls, messages or transactions they did not initiate. Another 23% have cut back on online shopping, and 67% of that group have never been scammed.

Malaysia's second place is measured on what the country has built. The same week's survey measured what its consumers are prepared to do with it, and on the evidence of the 20-point platform gap, the two are moving in different directions.

Operator verification services enter the picture

The Digital Nations 2026 report groups the requirement into four areas: identity, authenticated communications, resilient networks, and shared intelligence across governments, operators, financial institutions and platforms.

Malaysia's mobile operators have already moved into the identity layer. In September 2025, CelcomDigi, Maxis, U Mobile, Telekom Malaysia and YTL Communications launched a federated Number Verification API under the GSMA Open Gateway initiative, letting banks and online retailers check a customer's mobile number against live network data instead of relying on SMS one-time passwords. Neither report states how many institutions have since adopted it.