Countering Cyber Scam Operations
About the Project
Cybercrime and scam compounds have emerged as a rapidly evolving and multifaceted issue across Southeast Asia and are now spreading as the sophisticated criminal networks which run them expand this criminal business model to new localities including South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Cyber scam operations often rely on forced and trafficked labor, technology and platform misuse, cross-boundary illicit financial flows, corruption and governance gaps. The scale and transnational nature of this problem necessitates an urgent and coordinated policy response.
Stimson’s work in this area falls into two broad areas of research and dialogue: exploring how technological innovation both exacerbates cyber scams and how it can be leveraged to find solutions and improving policy coherence and response, including through the development or more robust implementation of relevant laws, normative frameworks, policies and regulation. Stimson takes a holistic approach to its research, convenings, and dialogue building efforts to counter scams, recognizing that this is a multi-dimensional challenge encompassing concerns about forced labor and human trafficking; cybercrime and the exploitation of technology; as well as illicit financial flows and money laundering.
The project builds on the Stimson Center’s Cyber Accountability Project as well as a long track record of work in the region on issues of governance, security, and development challenges led by Stimson’s Southeast Asia Program.
