(AseanAll)  — ASEAN reaffirmed its commitment to combating transnational crime through the adoption of the ASEAN Declaration on Combatting Cybercrime and Online Scams at the Nineteenth ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime (19th AMMTC) held in Malacca, Malaysia on September 10,2025.

The Declaration highlights the growing threat of cybercrime and online scams, which have grown rapidly to become a pervasive and complex transnational organized crimes and has generated upstream and downstream crimes, including identity theft, phishing attacks, financial fraud, money laundering, drug trafficking, online gambling, people smuggling, and trafficking in persons (TIP). ASEAN Member States expressed deep concern over the social impacts, financial losses, and declining public trust resulting from these crimes.

Through this Declaration, ASEAN agreed to deepen law enforcement coordination, promote public awareness and research on evolving tactics used in online crimes, improve national and regional policies and regulations, and strengthen cooperation through information exchange, capacity building, mutual legal assistance, extradition, joint operations, and data infrastructure development. Member States also committed to enhancing the capacity of frontline officers to detect, investigate, and prosecute cybercriminals, including online scam syndicates, and to better understand illicit financial flows associated to these crimes.

In addition, ASEAN Member States encouraged the establishment of dedicated points of contact, such as anti-scam centers, to cooperate on tracing and freezing illicit funds. The Declaration also underscores the importance of working with relevant stakeholders at national, regional, and international levels—including the private sector, financial institutions, ASEAN dialogue partners, and non-governmental organizations—on prevention, prosecution, and victim protection.

In the Declaration, Indonesia called for research into the current and evolving tactics and methods used to lure new victims through online platforms, the conduct of joint investigations, stronger cooperation with ASEAN Dialogue Partners, and enhanced collaboration across ASEAN pillars. Aside from adopting the commitment to combat cybercrime and online scams, the meeting also discussed current trends in transnational crime, including the rise of online scams that exploit artificial intelligence (AI), deepfakes, ransomware, and cryptocurrencies.

AMMTC serves as ASEAN’s highest policy-making body on matters relating to cooperation in combating and preventing transnational crime, including border management.