Strengthening ASEAN action against scam networks

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Online scam networks can spread across countries by separating people, money, technology, and operations. This structure means enforcement in one country may reach only part of the same network.

ASEAN now needs to better connect the cooperation mechanisms it already has so enforcement can move across borders as quickly as the networks themselves.

The case of Cambodia illustrates the scale of the challenge. From Jan. 1 to Sept. 15, 2026, the Indonesian Embassy in Phnom Penh received reports from 12,940 Indonesians formerly involved in online scam networks who sought assistance returning to Indonesia.

A total of 8,252 have been facilitated to return home. Since early September, another 118 Indonesians have been secured in a series of operations.

The number of people found shows the scale of the problem. But action against people and physical sites does not automatically disrupt an operation. Networks can replace workers, bank accounts, operating bases, and digital infrastructure. Law enforcement therefore needs to connect findings from one part of a network to another.

ASEAN already has the basic tools to do that. The ASEAN Declaration on Combating Cybercrime and Online Scams, adopted in September 2025, covers information sharing, mutual legal assistance, extradition, coordinated operations, joint investigations, and the tracing, freezing, and seizure of criminal proceeds.

The declaration also emphasizes the need for rapid responses to prevent criminal assets from being moved beyond the reach of authorities across jurisdictions.

Law enforcement capabilities are also being strengthened. The ASEANAPOL Scam Combat Task Force held an investigative workshop in Semarang from June 29 to July 3, 2026, with more than 60 participants. The training covered digital evidence, financial investigations, blockchain and cryptocurrency, and international law enforcement cooperation.

What is needed next is not simply more instruments, but a workflow in which each finding can trigger the next enforcement action. Recruitment information can lead investigators to controllers, digital evidence can expand a case, and financial intelligence can trace the movement of money across borders.

The problem is that information valuable to one country does not necessarily become actionable intelligence for another. Yordan Gunawan, an international law expert at Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, said jurisdictional boundaries, differences in legal systems, and requirements for lawfully obtaining evidence and assets mean cross-border scam cases cannot be handled unilaterally.

Connecting these efforts therefore requires more than information sharing. Information needs to have context, be verifiable, and be translated quickly into investigative action under each country's laws. Speed matters because digital evidence and money can move within minutes, while delays in coordination can cause a lead to lose its enforcement value.

The financial trail is one of the critical links. Dicky Kartikoyono, chief executive for financial-sector conduct supervision, education, and consumer protection at the Financial Services Authority (OJK), said criminal proceeds can move within minutes through multiple platforms, intermediary accounts, virtual assets, and cross-border transactions.

Delays in detecting suspicious transactions can make it harder to trace assets and uncover the wider criminal network.

Financial investigations therefore should not wait until after a raid. Money tracing needs to begin alongside investigations into people and infrastructure. A blocked account should not be treated simply as the endpoint of an investigation, but as a potential lead to recruiters, controllers, assets, and other connected operations.

In Indonesia, the Indonesia Anti-Scam Centre (IASC) had blocked 607,210 accounts as of July 31, 2026, out of 1,179,881 accounts reported by the public.

The center had blocked Rp724.1 billion in funds linked to online scams and returned Rp204.3 billion to victims. Once money crosses a border, however, tracing it cannot stop at the jurisdiction of a single country.

Enforcement must also distinguish trafficking victims from those who control scam operations. In August 2026, ASEAN validated regional indicators on trafficking for forced criminality, along with training materials on applying the non-punishment principle.

These tools can help authorities identify people who were forced to commit crimes so they can receive protection, while investigations focus on those who recruited, controlled, and profited from their exploitation.

Following the network

Indonesia and Cambodia now have a concrete opportunity to test this integrated approach. In July 2026, the two countries agreed to establish an Indonesia Desk at the headquarters of the Cambodian National Police to accelerate information sharing, access to evidence, and investigative processes.

The mechanism brings together Indonesia's Coordinating Ministry for Political and Security Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Attorney General's Office, National Police, Immigration, OJK, and Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK).

Indonesia has also offered training for Cambodian authorities on Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards, financial intelligence and forensics, cybersecurity, and digital investigations. The Indonesian and Cambodian national police forces will prepare implementing rules to provide the operational basis for the Indonesia Desk.

That cooperation now needs to move from information exchange to connected action. On Sept. 17, the Indonesian Embassy in Phnom Penh said Indonesia and Cambodia had agreed on police cooperation to take action against Indonesians involved in online scams while tracing funds suspected of originating from criminal activity.

The agreement creates room to connect action against perpetrators with financial tracing in cross-border investigations.

The International Conference on Combating Online Scams in Phnom Penh on Sept. 23-24 provides an opportunity to test whether this approach can be expanded. The test is not how many new declarations or forums are produced, but how quickly a finding in one country can trigger law enforcement action in another.

That test matters because the Indonesia Desk is, at its core, a connector. Its strategic value will emerge only when information received can lead to an investigation, evidence can be obtained lawfully, accounts can be traced, and money can be followed into another jurisdiction.

If those processes remain stalled by jurisdictional boundaries or procedural requirements, scam networks will retain room to move their operations.

When enforcement stops at the point where a network is found, the network can simply reappear elsewhere. ASEAN needs the capacity to turn every point of discovery into an entry point to a larger case.

A single account, device, or victim should not become the endpoint of an investigation. Each can provide a lead to the relationships, financial flows, and other actors behind the operation.

Enforcement gains greater reach when one piece of information can open the next investigation, one piece of evidence can expand a case, and financial tracing can follow the network as it moves. That way, moving an operation to another country does not automatically give the network time and room to rebuild.

*Martha Herlinawati Simanjuntak is a journalist at the ANTARA News Agency

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the ANTARA News Agency.

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