Fighting Online Scams: How the EU ESIWA+ Project Strengthens Cyber Cooperation with the Indo-Pacific

As mentioned in the European Union’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, the ESIWA+ (Enhancing the EU’s Security Cooperation In & With Asia & the Indo-Pacific) project — co-implemented by Expertise France and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) — plays a central role in strengthening security cooperation with regional partners. Within the project, cyber security and cybercrime are led and managed by Expertise France, ensuring strategic coherence between supporting policy dialogue, operational cooperation, and raising awareness of the EU’s role as a reliable global security partner.

Over the past year, ESIWA+ has significantly expanded EU engagement in the fight against online scams across India, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, contributing to a structured and regional approach to cyber resilience.

In August 2025, ESIWA+ supported a high-level seminar in Bangkok titled “Safeguarding Digital Societies: Preventing Scams and Combatting Cybercrime.”

Co-hosted by Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, the event gathered more than 150 participants from government agencies, law enforcement, regulators, private sector platforms, financial institutions and civil society representatives from Thailand and the European Union.

The seminar addressed:

• Emerging scam typologies and their links to organised crime and human trafficking
• Operational and legal frameworks in Thailand and EU Member States
• Public-private partnerships and victim support mechanisms
• Cross-border enforcement challenges

This dialogue marked an important step in aligning EU and Thai approaches to combating scams, and reinforcing peer-to-peer exchange between enforcement authorities and regulators.

In this context, the government of Thailand organised in December 2025 a broader international conference, expanding participation and reinforcing regional cooperation. ESIWA+ was invited to contribute to the deliberations, where discussions moved beyond awareness raising towards practical coordination, intelligence-sharing models and regulatory convergence.

Through these initiatives, ESIWA+ helped position the EU as a reliable partner in scam-fighting not merely as a criminal issue, but as a strategic resilience challenge affecting financial stability, digital trust and national security.

Recognising the role of digital platforms and technology providers in combating online fraud, ESIWA+ contributed to a major Trust & Safety conference in India.

This engagement allowed EU and Indo-Pacific stakeholders to exchange on:

• Platform accountability and content moderation frameworks
• Detection and disruption of scam networks
• Artificial intelligence risks in fraud operations
• Cooperation between regulators, platforms and law enforcement

By connecting policymakers, industry leaders and enforcement communities, ESIWA+ helped foster a more integrated approach linking cybercrime prevention with platform governance and digital responsibility.

In Malaysia, ESIWA+ has contributed to strengthening the national legal and policy framework on cybercrime and emerging technologies, in close cooperation with the National Cyber Security Agency (NACSA).

Building on Malaysia’s recent Cyber Security Act, ESIWA+ facilitated exchanges between Malaysian authorities and European experts on:

• Legislative approaches to cybercrime and enforcement coordination
• Institutional roles and inter-agency cooperation
• Alignment with international standards and best practices
• The intersection between artificial intelligence and cybercrime risks

Particular attention was given to the growing use of AI in scam operations — including deepfakes, automated phishing campaigns and fraud-at-scale — as well as the need for regulatory frameworks that balance innovation with security and fundamental rights.

Through this engagement, the EU, via Expertise France, supported Malaysia in strengthening its capacity to legislate, regulate and operationalise responses to evolving cybercrime threats, while fostering dialogue on AI governance in a security context.

During Cyber Week 2025 in Singapore, ESIWA+ supported discussions focused on cyber-enabled crime and online scams in a regional context.

The exchanges emphasised:

• The transnational dimension of scam ecosystems
• ASEAN-wide coordination mechanisms
• Confidence-building measures and information sharing
• The need for stronger operational cooperation between EU and Southeast Asian partners

These discussions reinforced the role of ESIWA+ role as a facilitator of trusted networks across jurisdictions, bridging European regulatory experience and operational realities of partner countries in the Indo-Pacific.

The fight against online scams demands sustained cooperation across legal, operational and diplomatic levels.

Through ESIWA+, Expertise France amplifies the EU role in:

• Supporting policy dialogue on cybercrime legislation and regulatory frameworks
• Facilitating operational cooperation and simulation exercises
• Promoting norms of responsible state behaviour and rules-based cyberspace
• Encouraging public-private partnerships
• Strengthening regional and international coordination

Cyber security and cybercrime are designed under ESIWA+ as an integrated track combining resilience, crisis preparedness, regulatory dialogue and enforcement cooperation.

By connecting national authorities, EU institutions, Member States, regional organisations and private actors, ESIWA+ strengthens collective capacity to disrupt scam networks and protect citizens.

The cumulative impact of these actions is visible in:

• Deepened EU-Thailand and EU-Malaysia cooperation on cybercrime
• Increased regional interest in expanding scam-related dialogue
• Strengthened integration of platform governance discussions into cybercrime policy
• Reinforced EU presence in Indo-Pacific cyber diplomacy

Online scams will continue to evolve, driven by artificial intelligence, cross-border financial flows and organised crime networks. Through ESIWA+, Expertise France ensures that the EU remains a trusted and proactive partner in building cyber resilience across the Indo-Pacific.