Delegates from 28 nations and seven international organizations that attended last week’s International Conference on Combating Online Scams (ICCOS) in Cambodia have signed the “Phnom Penh Declaration” – a document outlining 11 key commitments aimed at dismantling criminal networks linked to online scam operations.
The ICCOS was held organized to bring joint action against scam activities by exchanging knowledge and experience, attendees include government officials, law enforcement agencies, international organisations, financial institutions, technology companies and other stakeholders.
According to The Phnom Penh Post, the new Phnom Penh Declaration acknowledges that no government, institution or sector can effectively combat online scams alone and that doing so requires sustained, coordinated collective action to dismantle the entire ecosystem of criminal networks and disrupt the financial flows that support them.
While any such coordinated efforts must comply with international legal instruments as well as the national sovereignty of each nation,
Such efforts must comply with existing national laws and international legal instruments while respecting national sovereignty, it calls for the seizure and recovery of all assets linked to scam crimes and stresses that victims of such networks – such as those who have been trafficked to work for them – should not be punished.
Other tenets of the Phnom Penh Declaration include a commitment to strengthen technological innovation, policy and legal frameworks as well as the capacity of relevant authorities and communities, the elimination of major scam compounds and related infrastructure, and a promise to turn the commitments that form the declaration into concrete action.
The ICCOS was supported by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Interpol, the FBI and the Lancang-Mekong Integrated Law Enforcement and Security Cooperation Center (LMLECC).
Among the 28 nations in attendance were the likes of Australia, China, India, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam and the United States alongside representatives from Africa, South America, the Middle East and Europe.
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