The 2025 Bangkok Joint Statement was issued after the conclusion of the International Conference on the Global Partnership against Online Scams on 18 December 2025. Details of the 2025 Bangkok Joint Statement are as follows:

We, the members of the Global Partnership against Online Scams, consisting of [Thailand, Bangladesh, Nepal, Peru, and the United Arab Emirates, as well as the private sector, namely TikTok], at the International Conference on the Global Partnership against Online Scams, on 17- 18 December 2025, in Bangkok, co-hosted by the Kingdom of Thailand and the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC); 

Noting with concern the rapid proliferation of online scam center operations in Southeast Asia and other regions, which involve the misuse of technologies and multiple forms of transnational crimes, including cybercrime, financial fraud, money laundering, trafficking in persons and corruption; 

Acknowledging that online scams represent a serious threat that exerts widespread impacts on individuals, businesses and governments globally, and pose transnational security and socioeconomic challenges which undermine human rights, national security, progress towards sustainable development and public trust; 

Recognizing corruption as a significant facilitator of online scam operations and associated organised crime and encouraging enhanced integrity and accountability measures in compliance with the United Nations Convention against Corruption;

Reaffirming the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children, as well as the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime; 

Welcoming the signing of the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime on 25 October 2025 in Hanoi, which will enter into force on the ninetieth day after the date of deposit of the fortieth instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession; 

Recalling relevant resolutions adopted at the General Assembly, the Human Rights Council and the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, which recognize the benefits and implications of digital technology on human rights and that transnational crime groups are using technologies to facilitate trafficking in persons and exploit trafficked victims by forcing them to perpetrate online fraud and scam operations, thereby subjecting victims to forced criminality, debt bondage, a range of abusive practices; 

Stressing the urgency and necessity for States, including countries of origin and transit of victims of trafficking in persons for forced criminality in scam centers, as well as countries in which scam centers operate and countries where individuals are defrauded, to cooperate within and across borders to combat online scams and related transnational crime; 

We, as members of the Global Partnership against Online Scams, do hereby declare to: 

A. Political Commitment and Governance 

1. Place anti-online scams as a priority issue and allocate adequate resources to support the fight against online scams; 

2. Strengthen effective implementation of relevant existing international instruments, including the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children and the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, and encourage the signing and ratification of the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime; 

3. Develop and strengthen domestic legislation and enhance national institutional and operational responses, in line with the members’ international obligations, to prevent, mitigate and eradicate multiple forms of transnational crime, particularly those connected to online scams based on a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach;

B. Law Enforcement, Investigation, and Prosecution

 4.Commit to enhance international cooperation in the investigation and prosecution of online scam syndicates including the use of bilateral, regional, and multilateral mechanisms; 

5. Ensure timely information-, intelligence- and evidence-sharing to support effective disruption, prevention and prosecution of online scams and related crimes; 

6. Strengthen cybercrime, anti-money laundering investigations and digital forensic capacity through targeted training, standardized procedures, and improved tools to ensure that digital evidence in online scam cases is effectively collected, preserved, and analyzed; 

7. Ensure the effective implementation of beneficial ownership transparency requirements and the regulation and supervision of virtual assets service providers; 

8. Also ensure the use of formal and informal financial intelligence and asset forfeiture mechanisms, including through existing regional and partnership networks to enable law enforcement and prosecution to identify, trace and recover cross-border proceeds of crime related to scam centers; 

9. Encourage detailed assessment of foreign direct investment risks associated with organized crime and the misuse of commercial structures for scam operations; 

10. Enhance law enforcement’s capacity especially through sharing of experiences, challenges, and best practices on combatting online scams, as well as building investigative capabilities of Member States’ frontline officers;

11. Prosecute perpetrators of online scams and related crimes to bring them to justice; 

12. Develop a Standard Operating Procedures on anti-online scams to guide members of the Global Partnership to systematically and comprehensively combat online scams; 

13. Consider establishing a bilateral, regional or cross-regional Specialized Taskforce for Combatting Online Scams consisting of the countries’ law enforcement officers and relevant authorities, including cybercrime units, financial intelligence units and supervisors to promptly coordinate and jointly work to dismantle scam centers and rescue victims; 

C. Victim Protection 

14. Utilize intelligence and evidence shared and raise the capacity of frontline officers to effectively distinguish between perpetrators and victims of trafficking in persons in the context of online scams, while addressing challenges that hinder the efforts to correctly identify victims; 

15. Apply a victim-centered approach throughout the entire process, ensuring that screening, identification, protection, repatriation and rehabilitation measures safeguard the rights and wellbeing of trafficked persons;

16. Advocate and redouble efforts to implement the non-punishment principle for victims of trafficking in persons so that they are not punished for acts committed as a result of being trafficked; 

17. Urge countries of origin, transit, and destination of trafficked victims in scam centers to coordinate closely and in a timely manner to provide consular assistance, screen, identify, refer, and repatriate victims, as well as share information on cases of trafficking in persons following victim repatriation for the purpose of prosecution and prevention;

D. Public Awareness and Prevention of Online Scams 

18. Promote global multi-stakeholder awareness-raising campaigns with the effective involvement of social media and the private sector, such as digital or online service providers, financial institutions, internet and virtual assets service providers, and telecommunication operators with a view to preventing individuals from being defrauded and becoming victims of trafficking in scam centers; 

19. Enhance national and regional reporting systems by developing accessible reporting portals and improving analytical capacity to act on cases and reports in order to detect, refer, and investigate online scams in a timely manner, working in collaboration with specialized partners; 

20. Work closely with the private sector, including digital or online service providers, to combat online scams, including by encouraging the enhancement of suspicious activity detection, content moderation, information- and digital evidence sharing;    

E. Partnerships Within and Across Borders 

21. Create a multi-stakeholder Friends of the Global Partnership against Online Scams consisting of governments, the private sector, academia, civil society organizations, among others, to support collective efforts in the fight against online scams; 

22. Encourage the upcoming relevant international fora to build on the momentum, echo the messages and advocate the principles stated by the Global Partnership against Online Scams, and call for developments of related strategies and policies against online scams; 

23. Establish national focal points for: (1) Prevention of online scams; (2) Prosecution of transnational criminal groups related to online scams; (3) Protection of defrauded victims and trafficking in persons; and (4) Policy and Partnership for more coordinated international cooperation and rapid responses against online scams; 

24. Create and strengthen a dedicated national special unit/taskforce to assist in the detection, disruption, investigation, and prosecution of transnational criminal groups related to online scams; 

25. Continue the monitoring and analysis of trends, typologies, including financial patterns, and impact of measures against scam operations and encourage the sharing of this analysis through the Global Partnership; 

26. Further advance the Global Partnership’s joint efforts by considering hosting international conferences/activities that would contribute to eradicating online scams.

We, the members of the Global Partnership against Online Scams, hereby endorse this Joint Statement and reaffirm our commitment to combat these heinous crimes. 

The Global Partnership and this Joint Statement will remain open for endorsement by any United Nations Member States, international organizations, and other relevant stakeholders that share a commitment in our collective fight against online scams.