The AFP has joined law enforcement partners from across the globe to address cybercrime threats emerging from Southeast Asia, including one alarming trend where victims are trafficked, coerced and harmed into becoming elite scammers.
The Cybercrime Leaders Working Group held in Cebu, Philippines, this month (May 2025), drew law enforcement leaders from Southeast Asia, Australia and Qatar to collaborate on the disruption of cybercrime across Southeast Asia.
Countries included Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
This year’s theme, ‘Collaborating across borders: strengthening regional efforts against cybercrime’, reinforced the urgent need for a unified law enforcement response across the region to the growing scale and complexity of cybercrime.
One emerging crime type and summit focus was ‘forced cybercrime’ – where victims are turned into scammers under the control of transnational criminal syndicates.
Two Indonesian victims trafficked and sold into working in scam boiler rooms in Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar, shared their harrowing stories at the cybercrime forum to help law enforcement agencies understand the human complexities of cybercrime.
The victims, who appeared in disguise and used pseudonyms out of fear, were trapped in situations of debt bondage and forced to work their way up through the ranks of scam centres under threats of brutality, torture and actual violence from their former employers.
The conference also explored cybercrime trends such as scam compounds known as ‘boiler rooms’, ransomware groups, and the challenges law enforcement faces as criminals exploit artificial intelligence for criminal use.
The forum was officially opened by Her Excellency HK Yu, Australian Ambassador to the Philippines, alongside Director of the Philippines’ National Bureau of Investigation Judge Jaime B. Santiago, and Undersecretary Gilberto Cruz from the Presidential Anti-Organised Crime Commission.
AFP Assistant Commissioner Richard Chin of Cyber Command said the conference, which he attended, highlighted the complexities of cyber threats worldwide and the need for innovative responses beyond traditional law enforcement.
“This year’s Cybercrime Leaders Working Group was an important opportunity for law enforcement agencies to promote intelligence sharing between countries and enhance investigative cooperation more effectively than ever before,” Chin said. “Hearing from the two brave victims was incredibly insightful for law enforcement to better understand and disrupt the methodologies used by organised crime to facilitate human trafficking and cybercrime operations.
Chin added, “All participating countries are working closely together through their respective law enforcement, customs, immigration and other government bodies on education, prevention and detection responses to prevent and identify victims coerced into working in scam centres.”
Judge Santiago said the Cybercrime Leaders Working Group reaffirmed the critical role of international collaboration in combating transnational cyber threats.
“This year’s Cybercrime Leaders Working Group has enabled the National Bureau of Investigation to strengthen partnerships, share intelligence and pursue justice beyond borders,” Santiago said.
Undersecretary Gilberto Cruz said the breadth of insights and accomplishments presented at this year’s Cybercrime Leaders Working Group, alongside expert briefings from the Australian Federal Police, UNODC, and leading cybersecurity organisations such as Chainalysis and Palo Alto, clearly illustrated the scale, complexity and evolving nature of the global cybercrime threat.
In recent years, Southeast Asia has emerged as a global hotspot for cyber-enabled scam networks, many of which target Australian victims. In 2024, Scamwatch received 249,448 scam reports from Australians, resulting in financial losses exceeding $318 million.
To combat the growing threat of offshore scam centres targeting Australian victims, the AFP launched a global initiative, Operation Firestorm, in August 2024. Since its inception, the operation has supported the takedown of three scam centres in Manila, resulting in the seizure of thousands of digital devices and hundreds of arrests.
Chin said Operation Firestorm was another operational example of the AFP collaborating with its international partnerships to disrupt criminal networks and deliver results for victims.
“The AFP will continue to work with our international partners to strengthen the detection, disruption, and prosecution of cybercriminals wherever in the world they are operating from,” Chin said. “Together, we are more capable of defending our countries from cybercrime and disrupting the criminal networks that threaten our economy and national security. Cybercrime knows no borders, and neither should our efforts to fight it.”
