In Myanmar and Cambodia alone, 220,000 individuals are held in digital scam centers or ‘compounds,’ generating unprecedented amounts of revenue for criminal networks from online scams (an estimated $3 trillion U.S. dollars annually). It is a complex transnational problem that involves fraud, cryptocurrency, and illicit finance, forced labor, and trafficking in persons. The Stimson Center has launched a private roundtable series to facilitate dialogue and investigate solutions. The first iteration of this series convened virtually under the Chatham House Rule, captured some of the priority threats and opportunities, the gaps in the existing national and multilateral legal frameworks, and identified strategies and solutions to explore.
Roundtable participants included representatives from law enforcement agencies, ministries of foreign affairs, advocacy groups for the victims of fraud and forced labor, researchers, and private sector actors. The conversation was kicked off by an opening presentation by Cyber Program Director Allison Pytlak about the scope and objectives of Stimson’s project while also relaying some of the themes that are emerging from Stimson’s preliminary research and outreach. This was followed by kick-off remarks from two experts who framed the issue in the context of their work in the region. In a discussion moderated by Courtney Weatherby, Deputy Director of the Southeast Asia Program, some of the threats that emerged most often include the legal loopholes in national and international law which criminals exploit to avoid prosecution, and the lack of a ‘whole-of-government’ approach to tackle all the distinct criminal aspects of this problem.
This issue, while rapidly evolving, is not new—cyber fraud and scams have existed as long as the Internet has, a notion emphasized by participants. Taiwan and China faced the scam compound problem about two decades ago, albeit in a more controlled scale; India also witnessed a surge of telecommunications scams originating in the country. Some participants expressed the need for recognizing solutions that worked in these contexts, such as partnerships with local law enforcement and information-sharing arrangements among national agencies.
However, the scale and scope of the current challenge warrants a new approach. Participants representing victim rehabilitation and advocacy organizations and nonprofit research organizations identified the role of technical tools such as digital addresses and commercial satellite imagery to map and locate scam compounds, which are notoriously hard to trace. Likewise, financial and telecommunications regulation could disrupt the channels used by scammers to target and contact victims, as well as those used to defraud victims into transferring huge amounts of money to scammers. Instruments such as multilateral mutual assistance treaties or MLATs, if they are streamlined, could be essential for collecting the evidence that authorities require to prosecute scammers, and support international coordination to address cross-border trafficking. The Stimson Center’s work on this issue seeks to better evaluate and understand how existing international law and legal frameworks can be better applied to the threats and challenges posed by cybercrime scam operations.
This discussion provided an invaluable introduction to this multifaceted problem set and its disruptive impact and set the stage for further policy engagement on this subject. It is an important stepping stone for the Stimson Center’s U.S. Mekong Track 1.5 Dialogue taking place in Bangkok this month. Future roundtables will explore various legal and policy tools that can address the considerations put forth by participants, including the adequacy of national laws and regulations, the need for raising awareness and trust among all stakeholders and protecting vulnerable populations from trafficking and scams.
