THAILAND: Bangkok took centre stage this week as officials from 58 countries gathered with a shared sense of urgency — stopping the surge of online scams that are costing billions of dollars and destroying lives across borders.
The meeting, the International Conference on the Global Partnership against Online Scams (IC-GPOS), was co-hosted by Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Over two days, from Dec 17–18, some 338 participants—including senior officials from Rwanda, Myanmar, Indonesia, Vietnam, India and China—sat side by side to confront a problem that no nation can tackle on its own. China was represented by Liu Zhongyi, assistant minister at the Ministry of Public Security.
Opening the conference, Foreign Affairs Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow struck a sober tone. Technology, he said, has connected people across the world in remarkable ways—but it has also given criminals the tools to move faster than laws and law enforcement can keep up.
What once looked like isolated fraud cases has grown into what Mr Sihasak described as “industrial-scale crime,” thriving on legal gaps, weak governance and limited enforcement in some parts of the world.
The impact is staggering. Citing UNODC research from 2023, he said online fraud drains between US$18 billion and US$37 billion from East and Southeast Asia every year. Thailand alone has lost an estimated US$3.16 billion over the past three years.
But the damage goes far beyond money. Mr Sihasak warned that scam operations are tightly linked to human trafficking, forced labour and money laundering. Many victims are not just defrauded—they are coerced or trafficked into running scams themselves. While many operations are based in Southeast Asia, the victims come from virtually every region of the world.
This year, Thailand helped bring home more than 10,000 people from over 40 countries who were rescued from scam centres in neighbouring states. “This reality makes one point very clear,” Mr Sihasak said. “No country can solve this problem alone.”
He called for strong political will, tougher law enforcement and a united effort that brings together governments, businesses and civil society. Thailand, he added, has already seized about US$300 million in assets linked to online fraud and was among 72 countries that signed the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime in Hanoi earlier this year.
The Bangkok conference is expected to lay the groundwork for a long-term global partnership, with a joint statement outlining shared commitments and next steps. Although Cambodia did not attend, Mr Sihasak stressed that the initiative is not aimed at singling out any country, but at encouraging cooperation from all those affected.
UNODC regional representative Delphine Schantz reinforced the urgency of the moment, describing online scams as one of the fastest-growing and most lucrative forms of organised crime. Annual losses in East and Southeast Asia alone, she said, are approaching US$40 billion.
“This is our chance,” Ms Schantz told participants, “not just to talk, but to agree on clear, practical actions—at home, across the region and globally—to finally push back against online scams.”
