A new study by the Global Anti-Scam Alliance (GASA) found 75% of European adults encountered a scam in the past year, with €50 billion lost. Southeast Asia is a major hub for cyberscamming, with syndicates stealing billions annually. Europe lags behind the US in anti-scam actions.
Amnesty International reports 86 online scam compounds in Cambodia as of April, up from 53 a year ago, contradicting government claims of success in dismantling the industry.
The Chinese Consulate General in Melbourne issued a warning to students and citizens about increasing online and telecom scams. Recent cases include romance scams leading to extortion, fraudulent gift card and currency exchange deals, and fake investment schemes. Scammers impersonate officials and companies, demanding personal information and money transfers.
Sri Lanka is seeing a surge in online scam operations as crackdowns in other Asian countries force scammers to relocate. Over 1,000 foreigners have been arrested for cybercrime this year, a significant increase from previous years. Authorities are working to address the growing issue.
A joint operation in Cambodia has led to the arrest of individuals accused of running a multibillion-dollar online scam empire. Authorities confiscated numerous devices used for technology-based fraud, targeting fake investment schemes.
Indonesia bans children from using digital platforms, prompting support from child psychologists but posing compliance challenges for e-commerce companies to implement accurate, privacy-protecting age-verification systems.
A veteran finance professional with decades of experience at major institutions like JP Morgan, Citi and BNY Mellon recounts nearly being scammed via WhatsApp. The scam involved a message from a senior Japanese banker friend requesting a payment, complete with verified profile details. The author emphasizes that even sophisticated individuals are vulnerable to increasingly sophisticated AI-driven scams, noting that deception cases accounted for 48% of all crime in Hong Kong last year with losses reaching HK$3.6 billion.
The Philippines has approved new Inter-Agency Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) on April 22 to improve coordination among law enforcement agencies in combating organised crime. The SOPs address gaps exposed during earlier raids, including difficulties in coordinating evidence, freezing assets, identifying trafficking victims and building cases against operators who left few physical traces. Analysts and former officials warn the bigger test will be whether the new playbook can keep pace with criminal networks already moving from large Pogo compounds into more elusive operations.
Police in Malaysia's Penang state have found that ethnic Indians are significantly less likely to fall for online scams compared to other racial groups. Only 7% of 5,090 scam cases reported in Penang last year involved Indian victims, despite scammers targeting all communities equally. Penang CCID deputy chief Pang Meng Tuck attributed this to Indians responding to scammers with a barrage of questions. The findings come as Malaysia removed over 98,500 scam-related posts in 2025, up from 63,652 in 2024.
