The International Conference on the Global Partnership against Online Scams convened in Bangkok on 17 and 18 December 2025, drawing more than 300 delegates from nearly 60 countries. Co-hosted by the Kingdom of Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the two-day summit set out to make concrete commitments to confront a problem that crosses borders, platforms and criminal networks.
Organizers closed the event with the Bangkok Joint Statement on 18 December 2025, formally establishing the Global Partnership against Online Scams and naming initial state signatories and private-sector participants. The conference combined political leaders, law-enforcement officials, platform representatives and victim-support advocates in an effort to translate shared concern into coordinated action.
Summit overview and key participants
The meeting was held at the InterContinental Bangkok, with a press briefing on the morning of 18 December 2025 announcing outcomes and next steps. Over 300 participants representing nearly 60 countries attended, including ministers and senior officials from major regions, and delegations that included China, the United States, Indonesia, Myanmar, Rwanda and Kenya.
The conference was co-hosted by Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and UNODC, and it attracted a wide mix of government, international organization and private-sector actors. Private firms such as Meta presented mitigation reports, and TikTok was listed among early private partners in the Bangkok Joint Statement, signaling platform-level engagement with law enforcement and regulators.
Not every regional government was present; organizers acknowledged gaps in participation and encouraged broader buy-in. For example, coverage noted that Cambodia did not take part in the launch, a shortfall summit leaders said they hoped to address through continued outreach.
The Bangkok Joint Statement: commitments and signatories
On 18 December 2025 summit organizers issued the Bangkok Joint Statement, which officially established the Global Partnership against Online Scams. The statement lists initial state signatories including Thailand, Bangladesh, Nepal, Peru and the United Arab Emirates, and it names private-sector participants committed to cooperation and information sharing.
Key commitments in the Joint Statement include enhanced cross-border cooperation, strengthened law-enforcement collaboration, victim protection and support, public awareness campaigns, and private-sector engagement to disrupt scam networks. The document framed these pledges as complementary lines of effort , political will, enforcement capacity, platform controls and victim services.
Organizers also set out a roadmap for follow-up work, pointing to continued UN-led capacity building and an upcoming Global Fraud Summit. The Joint Statement emphasizes practical coordination, with signatories agreeing to exchange evidence, harmonize legal frameworks and accelerate mutual assistance where possible.
Scale of the problem and human costs
Speakers at the summit underlined the staggering scale of monetary losses tied to online scams. UN reporting cited at the conference estimated that scams targeting East and Southeast Asia in 2023 caused losses between about US$18 billion and US$37 billion, with some analyses approaching nearly $40 billion when related illicit economies are included.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres, in a video message, warned that ‘online scams cause tens of billions in losses each year’ and urged fast multilateral action. Those economic figures were accompanied by accounts of human harm: romance and investment scams frequently involve coercion, trafficking of scam workers, and severe emotional and financial damage to victims.
Conference briefings also highlighted large scam compounds and call-centre operations in parts of Southeast Asia, including Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, and border areas. Recent enforcement actions were cited , including raids and detentions in Myanmar, with thousands detained in operations against scam centers , illustrating both the criminal organization behind scams and the human-trafficking dimensions that complicate the response.
AI, deepfakes and evolving tactics
Organizers and experts flagged a rapid rise in AI-enabled fraud as one of the summit’s most urgent themes. UNODC and other analyses presented at the conference noted large percentage increases in deepfake-related criminal use and described generative AI as a ‘force multiplier’ that makes scams more convincing and scalable.
Platforms and industry representatives described new threats such as voice and video deepfakes used to impersonate victims or trusted contacts, as well as AI-written scripts that automate social engineering. Meta presented a report on AI-driven scams and platform mitigation protocols, underscoring the technology arms race between criminals and defenders.
Speakers warned that scam networks are adapting quickly , relocating operations, adopting satellite internet and experimenting with new laundering techniques , meaning detection and disruption require continuously updated technical tools and strong international cooperation to keep pace.
Private sector, financial controls and multi-stakeholder tools
The Bangkok gathering emphasized that disrupting scam networks demands all major stakeholders at the table. Industry voices, including the Global Anti-Scam Alliance, stressed that scams ‘exploit seams across various platforms from banks, telcos, to social media platforms.’ This reinforced calls for coordinated information sharing and platform-level enforcement.
Private-sector commitments at the summit ranged from platform detection and takedown initiatives to payment- and banking-sector controls aimed at halting money flows. Financial-sector measures, suspicious-activity reporting and faster cross-border financial intelligence were presented as critical complements to policing and platform moderation.
Organizers called for private firms to deepen partnerships with law enforcement and victim-support services, balancing transparency and privacy while enabling rapid action. The Joint Statement specifically invites private-sector participation to help disrupt scam networks and share operational data that can lead to arrests and dismantling of organized operations.
Operational challenges and next steps
Despite the commitments, summit participants acknowledged tough operational challenges a. Some countries and regions are still not fully engaged, enforcement capacity varies widely, and legal frameworks for cybercrime remain inconsistent, which slows mutual assistance and prosecutions.
Speakers urged accelerated implementation of the UN Convention against Cybercrime, a point echoed by the UN Secretary-General. They also called for sustained capacity building, joint investigations, and expanded financial and technical assistance to countries hit hardest by scam operations and by the human‑trafficking networks that underlie many schemes.
Looking a, the Global Partnership foresees structured follow-up: joint exercises, data-sharing protocols, and international fora such as a planned Global Fraud Summit. Delegates emphasized that the new partnership will be judged by concrete results , arrests, asset seizures, and measurable reductions in victim harm , rather than by statements alone.
The Bangkok summit put forward a blueprint that blends political will, law-enforcement cooperation, private-sector tools, financial controls, public-awareness campaigns and victim support. Success will depend on sustained engagement, transparency and the ability to adapt tactics as scammers evolve their methods.
If the Global Partnership against Online Scams can maintain momentum, expand membership and convert pledges into operational pipelines, it could mark a meaningful step toward reducing both the financial weight and the human toll of sophisticated, transnational fraud.
