APA-Obs

Flying under the radar: How airports and airlines could be vital partners in combating the cyber scam industry

...The growth of cyber scam centres around the world is fuelling a global human trafficking crisis on a scale and organizational complexity rarely seen since the height of the transatlantic slave trade. In just a few years...

Posted on 12 Jun 2025

Author(s): Lindsey Kennedy, Nathan Paul Southern

APA-Obs

Compound crime: Cyber scam operations in Southeast Asia

Compound crime

...cyber scam operations have surged across Southeast Asia since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, evolving into a transnational organized crime crisis of staggering proportions. In this report, we expose t...

Posted on 29 May 2025

Global Initiative

Joint US–India focus on cyber scams is a chance to curb a global fraud epidemic

...an serve criminal interests. Now is the time for India and the United States, both exploited by online scammers, to show global leadership in jointly tackling this growing threat. A global rise in cyber scams India has long been at the centre of discussions about scams and online fraud. The country emerged as a hub for the call centre industry in the 1990s, when prominent Western companies – at...

Posted on 21 Apr 2025

Author(s): Jack Meegan-Vickers, Kristina Amerhauser

Geocriminality, Sanctions and organized crime, EAS-Obs, EUR-Obs

Lawless cyberspace: Why Eastern Europe leads global cybercrime

Lawless cyberspace

...cybercrime is a growing global threat, causing trillions of dollars in economic damage annually. This report explores how Eastern Europe and Russia have become a significant hub for cybercriminal activity,...

Posted on 07 Apr 2025

Author(s): Luke Rodeheffer

UN Cyberwatch, UN-TOC Watch

The final call: UN member states adopt a new cybercrime treaty

The final call

...The UN has finalized a treaty on cybercrime, after two years of negotiations. While the governments seemed to feel a sense of closure and accomplishment after years of negotiating this treaty, it did not put most stakeholders at ease with...

Posted on 12 Sep 2024

Author(s): Summer Walker, Ana Paula Oliveira

UN Cyberwatch, UN Reform

Cybercrime treaty risks a world of UN-sanctioned online control

...From 29 July to 9 August 2024, state representatives will reconvene at the United Nations in New York to try to agree to a new convention on cybercrime. Members had intended to conclude negotiations at the planned closing session in February 2024, but there was still disagreement on several key issues, not least the title of the treaty – and ...

Posted on 22 Jul 2024

Author(s): Summer Walker

UN - Security and Rights, UN Cyberwatch, UN-TOC Watch

The risks of a last-minute Cybercrime Treaty Protocol

What's the protocol on protocols?

...As the reconvened session of the Ad Hoc Committee for the UN cybercrime convention approaches from July 29 to August 9, 2024, this brief delves into the potential risks of introducing a supplementary protocol on 'additional crimes' at this late stage. The negotiatio...

Posted on 12 Jul 2024

Author(s): Ian Tennant

UN Cyberwatch

Hitting Pause: The unfinished story of the UN Cybercrime negotiations

Hitting pause

...The attempt by the United Nations (UN) to develop a treaty to address cybercrime – or crimes committed online – has been put on pause. At the February 2024 concluding session of the Ad Hoc Committee to Elaborate a Comprehensive International Convention on Countering the...

Posted on 27 Mar 2024

Author(s): Ana Paula Oliveira, Summer Walker

UN Cyberwatch

A dream deferred or a near miss? UN committee postpones decision on cybercrime convention

...While supporters of the UN’s cybercrime treaty have seen their dreams deferred with the convention’s postponement, those concerned about the treaty’s potential impact on human rights and freedoms are breathing a momentary sigh of ...

Posted on 15 Feb 2024

Author(s): Darren Brookbanks, Ana Paula Oliveira

UN - Security and Rights, UN Cyberwatch, UN-TOC Watch

Endgame: The final phase of the UN cybercrime negotiations?

Endgame

...From January 29 to February 9, 2024, UN delegates will meet in New York to conclude discussions on a new cybercrime convention. Different countries have varying ideas about what the treaty should cover and how it should protect human rights and freedom of speech. The negotiations, influenced by major global...

Posted on 19 Jan 2024

Author(s): Ian Tennant

UN Cyberwatch, UN-TOC Watch

UN Cybercrime Treaty

UN Cybercrime Treaty

... 2023, delegates debated a zero draft of the United Nations Treaty on Countering the Use of Information and Communications Technologies for Criminal Purposes, or more succinctly referred to as the ‘cybercrime treaty’, at a UN session in New York. The purpose of the meeting was to agree on as many provisions as possible. However, this progress was not possible as differences between countries contin...

Posted on 03 Nov 2023

UN Cyberwatch, UN-TOC Watch

The cost of consensus: Sixth session of the UN Ad Hoc Committee on cybercrime

...As the final session of the UN cybercrime treaty negotiations draws near, lack of consensus among delegations is hampering the process. But is reaching a final agreement worth the outcome? The penultimate session of the UN Ad Hoc Commi...

Posted on 14 Sep 2023

Author(s): Ian Tennant