Digitally-enabled scams and fraud have emerged as one of the most pressing threats to the rapid growth of Southeast Asia’s digital economy. Fuelled by widespread digital adoption and the expansion of cross-border e-commerce, scams have exploited the very systems that have made online transactions possible. In 2024 alone, the Global Anti-Scam Summit estimated that losses in the region amounted to approximately USD 23.6 billion. Recent data also indicates that around two-thirds of Southeast Asians encountered a scam within the past year, underscoring the pervasive nature of this issue.
As the region grapples with these growing threats, there is increasing recognition that no single country can address them in isolation. Digitally-enabled scams are now cross-border in nature, often with perpetrators based in one country, the infrastructure hosted in another, victims targeted elsewhere, and illicit funds transferred across multiple borders. This complexity highlights the need for a coordinated regional response through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to effectively confront this evolving challenge.
As lead of the Digital Working Group at the ASEAN Think Tanks Summit, the Tech for Good Institute (TFGI) presented a research paper examining ASEAN’s potential role in strengthening regional resilience against scams and fraud. Alongside representatives from leading think tanks across the region, TFGI also shared insights during a panel discussion, emphasising that a whole-of-society approach, which means bringing together governments, industry, and civil society, is essential for an effective and sustainable regional response.
Speakers
- Citra Nasruddin, Programme Director, Tech for Good Institute
- Pongphisoot Busbarat, Director, Institute of Security and International Studies
- Asha Rao, Professor of Mathematics and Cybersecurity, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
- Eng Netra, Executive Director, Cambodian Development Research Institute
- Nguyen Thanh Binh, Lecturer, Phenikaa University
- Keith Detros, Programme Manager, Tech for Good Institute
Key Takeaways
1. Prioritise digital literacy and safety across ASEAN.
To combat scams and fraud, speakers noted the importance of prioritising digital literacy initiatives and designing policies that place safety at the centre. Governments in the region can consider embedding people-centred protection against scams and fraud, recognising that resilience is not only a technical issue but also a human one. Beyond establishing technical standards, there must be sustained efforts to enhance public awareness and vigilance against evolving scam tactics.
Digital literacy should be prioritised across member states by integrating it into school curricula, supporting national awareness campaigns, and fostering peer learning among governments. Speakers also underscored the value of public–private partnerships in building resilience. A notable example is the collaboration between the ASEAN Foundation and Google.org, which committed USD $5 million to expand online scam prevention resources to reach three million people across Southeast Asia.
2. Establish stronger regional scam intelligence-sharing mechanisms
To effectively address the transnational nature of scams and fraud, ASEAN should operationalise a robust intelligence-sharing platform, drawing on international best practices such as the Global Signal Exchange. Real-time information sharing is a vital component of digital resilience, as it enables faster detection of fraudulent activity, identification of scam-related websites, and the timely disruption of criminal operations. There are already promising grassroots examples of information sharing in the region. Vietnam’s ChungLuaDao initiative illustrates how community-based collaboration can improve public awareness and encourage early reporting of scams.
At the regional level, ASEAN can build on existing structures to establish a more coordinated framework for intelligence sharing. The ASEAN Working Group on Anti-Online Scam provides a useful starting point, but further technical integration with other sectoral bodies, including those focused on political-security, financial regulation, law enforcement, and socio-cultural cooperation, is necessary. Strengthening these mechanisms would enable ASEAN to move from being primarily a consumer of external scam intelligence to becoming a generator of regional threat insights, thereby contributing more meaningfully to global efforts against digital fraud.
3. Strengthen regional response and recovery through coordinated operations
Beyond prevention, ASEAN must also prioritise joint response and recovery mechanisms to address the increasingly complex and transnational nature of scams and fraud. Regional simulation exercises and coordination drills, modelled on existing cross-border trafficking investigations, can serve as practical tools to enhance collaboration among law enforcement agencies and regulators. These exercises would help test arrest coordination, asset recovery procedures, and victim support mechanisms under real-world conditions. Such a mechanism could be hosted under an existing body, such as ASEANAPOL, or developed as a new dedicated structure to ensure operational readiness across the region.
There are also encouraging examples of regional efforts to strengthen response and recovery. To support individuals who come forward to expose scam centres, ASEAN released guidelines on the non-punishment principle for individuals trafficked into scam operations in June 2025. These guidelines urge ASEAN Member States to ensure that victims coerced into scams are protected rather than criminalised, embedding victim-sensitive approaches into national law enforcement protocols.
4. Within ASEAN, it is important to foster coordination of efforts across political-security, economic, and socio-cultural pillars.
Building resilience against scams and fraud requires a coordinated approach that cuts across ASEAN’s three community pillars: political-security, economic, and socio-cultural. Fragmented initiatives can limit impact, while integrated action allows ASEAN to address scams as both a governance and societal challenge.
At the political-security level, coordination can focus on strengthening law enforcement cooperation, harmonising legal frameworks, and sharing intelligence through dedicated working groups and task forces. Within the economic pillar, efforts should include enhancing financial safeguards, improving cross-border payment monitoring, and engaging the private sector in fraud detection and prevention. Meanwhile, the socio-cultural pillar can promote digital literacy, community awareness, and behavioural change programmes that empower citizens to identify and resist scams. ASEAN’s strength lies in its ability to bring together diverse expertise and networks.
