NOV 15 — China and five Southeast Asian neighbours — Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam — have finally taken an important step forward in combating the metastasising cancer of cross-border telecom and online fraud.

Meeting in Kunming, Yunnan Province, their senior officials pledged joint operations, intelligence-sharing, repatriation of suspects, and the creation of a permanent coordination mechanism. This is a welcome development.

But the urgency is far greater than any communiqué can capture. Unless China pushes forcefully, and unless its Indo-China neighbours cooperate wholeheartedly, the world will soon be confronting a scourge too entrenched, too transnational, and too profitable to dismantle.

For Malaysia and Asean, the cross-border fraud epidemic is not a distant, abstract problem. It is here, now, and growing.

These syndicates are not merely “scam call centres.” They have mutated into sprawling criminal ecosystems linked to human trafficking, money laundering, forced labour, and financial crimes that target victims from China to Europe to Southeast Asia — including Malaysians.

Many of the perpetrators operate from remote borderlands in Myanmar, enclaves in Cambodia, hard-to-monitor zones inside Laos, and increasingly, mobile hubs that can shift quickly between Indo-China jurisdictions.

What began as petty digital fraud in underregulated casinos has evolved into an industrial-scale criminal enterprise.

For years, these networks flourished because they were too fragmented for any single government to address. China, by virtue of its sheer number of victims, eventually became the loudest voice insisting on coordinated action.

But pressure alone is not enough. The entire region needs a strategic alignment in tackling a problem that threatens digital trust, regional stability, and the credibility of Southeast Asia’s economic future.

Malaysia cannot afford complacency. As a country pursuing high-value digitalisation, semiconductor partnerships, and global trade integration, our reputation depends on security.

Investors will hesitate if Southeast Asia becomes known as the world’s capital for fraud, trafficking, and cybercrime. Ordinary Malaysians will be at greater risk if syndicates exploit our borders, banking systems, or migrant vulnerabilities.

And Asean itself will suffer reputational harm if its member states become hubs for global criminality.

This is why China’s involvement is so pivotal. Whatever geopolitical disagreements exist between Beijing and Washington, or Beijing and various Asean capitals, every country has a stake in stopping fraud.

China has the resources, the police networks, the digital forensics capability, and the diplomatic weight to press Indo-China governments into action.

But cooperation must go beyond symbolic meetings. Fraud networks are highly mobile. When one hotspot is uprooted, criminal syndicates simply pack up and move across the nearest border.

Only unified, synchronised enforcement across the Mekong region will work.

In the Kunming meeting, the six governments agreed to multinational operations, intelligence sharing, and streamlined repatriation of suspects.

But the deeper question is whether Indo-China states can maintain political will. Some local authorities have been complicit. Some regions depend on illegal online gambling and fraud networks for revenue. Others lack adequate enforcement capacity or face governance challenges exacerbated by conflict, corruption, or geography.

China’s crackdown will be ineffective if these systemic weaknesses are not addressed.

Still, there are signs of progress. Thousands of suspects have been repatriated from Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos in joint operations over the past year. Cross-border coordination between Thailand, China, and Myanmar has accelerated under bilateral agreements. Cambodia, once a major scam hub, has begun shutting down compounds.

Yet criminal organisations continue to recruit vulnerable individuals, including Malaysians, promising “high-paying jobs,” only to trap them in forced labour.

Every rescue reveals the same truth: this crisis is not purely criminal; it is humanitarian.

Malaysia must therefore treat telecom and online fraud as a national security threat. This means enhancing cybersecurity, financial monitoring, and digital literacy, but also strengthening regional cooperation — not only with China, but with Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Myanmar.

Asean already recognises the challenge of non-traditional security threats, but its mechanisms must be sharpened. A coordinated Southeast Asian digital security framework is long overdue.

If Asean can build a unified economic vision, it must be equally united in countering a criminal ecosystem that undermines the foundations of that vision.

The stakes are high. Scam networks today generate billions of dollars annually. Their tentacles reach into global banking systems, cryptocurrencies, and digital platforms.

If China and Southeast Asia fail to contain the crisis, these criminal enterprises will become more sophisticated, more international, and harder to eliminate.

The world will not merely face a surge in fraud; it will face an entrenched global industry of exploitation.

China has a responsibility — and an interest — in spearheading the crackdown. But Asean nations, including Malaysia, share an equal responsibility to ensure our borders, digital systems, and labour markets are not exploited.

This is not a question of geopolitics; it is a question of protecting human lives and preserving economic stability.

The Kunming meeting is an encouraging start. Yet it must be followed by real action: joint task forces, shared surveillance data, comprehensive financial tracking, and the dismantling of political protection networks that enable criminal syndicates.

Southeast Asia’s digital future cannot be built on a foundation riddled with fraud.

If China and its Indo-China neighbours fail to act decisively now, the scourge will spread — and no country, whether in Asia or beyond, will remain untouched.

The world is watching. More importantly, millions of potential victims are depending on swift and sustained action.

* Phar Kim Beng is Professor of Asean Studies and Director, Institute of International and Asean Studies (IINTAS) International Islamic University Malaysia

** This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.