ASEAN steps up fight against cybercrime, online scam networks | #cybercrime | #infosec

Southeast Asian nations are strengthening cooperation against cybercrime, online scams and human trafficking as criminal syndicates increasingly exploit technology to operate across borders, Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said Wednesday.Speaking at the 20th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime in Makati City on 21 October, Remulla said member states must modernize their strategies to keep pace with increasingly sophisticated criminal networks.“We came here for one reason, to protect our people. The climate has changed since 1997. Online scams, meaning impersonals, money laundering, and drug trafficking now feed each other and they move across borders at the speed of today’s technology,” Remulla said.He highlighted ASEAN’s declaration on protecting children from online sexual abuse and exploitation, including threats involving artificial intelligence-generated content.Ministers also discussed the first ASEAN Regional Trafficking in Persons Report, which provides an overview of regional efforts against human trafficking.Remulla said ASEAN and its dialogue partners, Japan, South Korea and China, were adopting a joint statement outlining cooperation against trafficking, terrorism and cybercrime.“Cooperation is just not an idea, it is already producing results,” he said.He cited the Philippines’ retention of its Tier 1 ranking in the United States Trafficking in Persons Report for the 11th consecutive year.Remulla also pointed to joint operations that helped rescue Filipinos from scam operations in Cambodia and intercept more than 500 kilograms of suspected shabu in Laos earlier this month.Meanwhile, the DILG chief warned that online scam syndicates were shifting from large facilities to smaller residential operations to evade detection.He disclosed that authorities were tracking three suspected scam hubs in Metro Manila, allegedly involving dismissed police and military personnel.According to Remulla, the operations involve rented houses accommodating approximately 10 to 20 individuals each, replacing the large-scale facilities previously associated with Philippine offshore gaming operators.“It’s not like before. Before, what we had here had 5,000 people in one building. Now they rent small houses. We are going after them one-by-one,” he said.Remulla also cited an operation in Zamboanga Sibugay on 2 October that resulted in the arrest or rescue of 244 foreign nationals, mostly Chinese.He alleged that some dismissed police officers and military personnel were serving as operatives for the criminal groups but did not identify those involved.“Our problem is that as we track, the henchmen that they use are dismissed policemen and dismissed military men,” he said.Remulla added that ASEAN officials had discussed emerging threats involving nihilistic violent extremism, although the issue was not explicitly mentioned in the ministerial joint statement.He emphasized that strengthening intelligence sharing, border security and cross-border law enforcement cooperation remained essential to combating transnational criminal networks.Stay informedGet Daily Tribune in your inboxBreaking news, opinion, and business coverage for readers in the Philippines and abroad.Or open the newsletter page. Prefer chat? Join the Viber community.

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