Ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) opened transnational crime talks in Metro Manila on Oct. 19, seeking closer regional action on cybercrime and trafficking that cross national borders.
The 20th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime is scheduled to run through Oct. 21. Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary Juanito Victor C. Remulla is leading the sessions, the Philippine Presidential Communications Office said.
The ministers are considering declarations on online sexual abuse or exploitation and on materials involving child sexual abuse or exploitation. The proposals cover digital and artificial intelligence-enabled environments, according to the Philippine office.
People trafficked into scam centers bear a direct cost of online fraud. The United Nations Human Rights Office reported in February that deceptive job offers had drawn people into such operations, where they were forced to commit fraud. Its account also identified corruption as a factor in the abuses.
Cambodia’s Ministry of Interior reported raids on 488 online scam sites in the first half of 2026. Deputy spokesperson Touch Sokhak said authorities detained 20,926 suspects and referred 2,637 of them to court. Those figures describe Cambodia’s reported enforcement activity, rather than the total scale of scam operations.
ASEAN’s 2025 declaration on cybercrime and online scams called for closer information sharing and assistance for victims forced to commit fraud. The Philippine office lists cybercrime among the subjects for the Manila meeting; it does not identify online scams as a separate agenda item.
The office also listed money laundering, drug trafficking and arms smuggling for discussion. The meeting includes consultations with China, Japan and the Republic of Korea. Officials plan a symbolic handover of the transnational crime meeting’s chairmanship to Singapore when it closes Oct. 21.
