Digital fraud, security, and trust in the connected ecosystem took center stage at the opening keynote of Mobile World Congress 2026 (MWC26), the mobile industry’s flagship event. Leaders from organizations such as the GSMA, alongside senior executives from mobile operators Orange and Bharti Airtel, warned that scams are escalating at an alarming pace and eroding confidence in the digital economy.
During the keynote “Leading the Future: Intelligent, Inclusive, Unstoppable”, Vivek Badrinath, Director General of the GSMA, cautioned the industry about what he described as an “inevitable” reality: “Fraudsters are winning the arms race.They are leveraging technology to stay one step ahead. They exploit gaps across sectors and countries, and they continuously adapt.” He characterized digital fraud as a“global threat” and stressed that the scale of the challenge requires “urgent and coordinated action”.
Sunil Bharti Mittal, Founder and Chairman of India’s Bharti Enterprises, quantified the economic impact: “Digital fraud already costs $480 billion annually — that’s $15,000 every second.” He added that artificial intelligence has expanded the attack surfaceand emphasized that connectivity alone is no longer sufficient: “More important than connectivity is trust.”
Christel Heydemann, CEO of Orange, reinforced the message, stating that telecom operators act as “architects of a trusted environment”.
Looking ahead, industry leaders called for deeper collaboration across the ecosystem. Badrinath acknowledged that operators are investing in advanced defenses and intelligence sharing, but also highlighted their limitations: “Most scams occur beyond operators’ direct control”, urging closer cooperation with financial institutions, digital platforms, governments, and cybersecurity specialists.
Mittal, for his part, pointed to regulatory fragmentation as a barrier to progress: “We cannot operate within a fragmented regulatory ecosystem. Each country must begin strengthening its sovereign safeguards in coordination and collaboration with others”.
Protect Identities: ANetwork-Level Response
The scenario outlined at MWC26is not new to those operating on the front lines of digital identity verification. The warnings around sophisticated fraud, regulatory fragmentation, and the need for collaboration between operators and platforms are precisely the challenges that mobile identity APIs are designed to address.
At Plusmo, our Protect Identities unit operates at this intersection: we connect mobile network infrastructure with enterprises that require secure, frictionless identity verification. This enables organizations to authenticate users in real-time without relying on vulnerable credentials.
Available APIs — SIM Swap, Number Verification, Device Status, Device Location, and Device Identifier — detect irregularities before fraud occurs. An unauthorized SIM swap, a recycled number, or a mismatch between device and line are automatically and silently flagged by the system. The result is an additional protection layer that reduces fraud without adding friction to the user journey.
In short, the call heard this week at MWC26for greater collaboration among operators, digital platforms, and regulators reflects precisely the ecosystem in which Plusmo operates — and actively contributes.
