At the Global Anti-Scam Summit (GASS) Asia 2025 in September, a series of key initiatives to combat the rising tide of online scams was announced.
State Of Scams In Southeast Asia 2025 report
The “State of Scams in Southeast Asia 2025 Report,” which surveyed 6,000 people across Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, revealed the staggering scale of scams in Southeast Asia. An average of US$660 is lost per person, with Singapore experiencing the highest per person loss at US$2,132.
The report also found that nearly two-thirds of all scams occur within 24 hours of first contact, and an alarming 77% of Southeast Asian adults were exposed to a scam in the past year.
Jorij Abraham, Managing Director of Global Anti-Scam Alliance (GASA), emphasised the urgent need for action. “Online scams are not just a consumer inconvenience, they are a global security challenge undermining digital trust and economic resilience,” Abraham said.
“Criminal networks are moving faster than our protections, but it is possible to close the gap. GASA’s mission is to provide the infrastructure and partnership needed to close this gap – uniting efforts across sectors and borders to build a stronger, collective defence.”
GASA Network Expansion in Southeast Asia
The recently launched “State of Scams in Southeast Asia 2025 Report” revealed that 63% of Southeast Asian adults claim to have had a scam experience in the last 12 months.
To address the growing threat of scams, the Global Anti-Scam Alliance (GASA) has significantly expanded its presence in Southeast Asia, establishing operational chapters in both Indonesia and the Philippines over the past year. These new chapters join the existing one in Singapore, creating a stronger regional network for combating online fraud.
By creating local chapters, GASA is able to foster greater collaboration and intelligence-sharing within these key markets. Rajat Maheshwari, chairman of the GASA Singapore Chapter and Senior Vice President, Strategic Growth, Asia Pacific, Mastercard, added that effective solutions cannot be developed in silos.
“Singapore has shown that with the right alignment between public and private sectors, we can move the needle,” Maheshwari noted. “Our collective responsibility is to scale these solutions across Southeast Asia and beyond to ensure that citizens and businesses alike can operate in a trusted digital environment.”
GovTech Singapore commits to exchanging scam signals through the Global Signal Exchange (GSE)
The Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech Singapore) has joined the GSE, making it the first government agency globally to commit to exchanging scam signals. Tracking over 400 million threats in real time, the GSE allows member organisations to rapidly share information for scam disruption.
Co-founded by Oxford Information Labs Research (OXIL), Google, and the Global Anti-Scam Alliance (GASA), GSE is the first global clearinghouse for the sharing of scams and fraud threat signals, with members including technology giants such as Meta and Microsoft. This collaboration is a major step in strengthening global public-private partnership against online scams.
Mr Tan Kiat How, Senior Minister of State for the Ministry of Digital Development and Information and Ministry of Health, and Patron of the GASA Singapore Chapter said, “The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence has introduced powerful new tools, but it’s a double-edged sword.
“With AI, scammers can create hyper-realistic deepfake videos, generate persuasive and personalised text messages at scale, and automate fraudulent campaigns with unprecedented speed.
“Combating this requires close collaboration between governments, industry, and civil society, and a strategy of using technology to fight technology.”
