On Wednesday, September 30, 2026, The Cool Down reported that Interpol is warning online romance scams and fraudulent investment schemes are striking victims on an unprecedented scale, with many of the operations linked to organized criminal groups based in parts of Southeast Asia.
Nicholas Court, who heads Interpol’s Taskforce Coordination Directorate, said the threat has become severe enough that some governments now regard it as a national security issue. Malay Mail first reported his remarks, which he also delivered to Malaysian outlet Bernama during the International Conference on Combating Online Scams, held Sept. 23 and 24 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Court identified investment fraud involving cryptocurrencies as one of the most troubling trends. He said romance fraud has existed for decades but is worsening as more people turn to social media and dating apps to find companionship.
Interpol’s second Global Financial Fraud Threat Assessment estimated that worldwide losses from financial fraud reached about $442 billion in 2025. Court said millions of dollars are lost to fraud every day around the world, and that Southeast Asia is among the regions affected.
According to Interpol, scams that originated in Southeast Asia have evolved into criminal enterprises with a global footprint. Court said syndicates have used Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar as bases to target vulnerable people worldwide. Facilities uncovered in several regions have housed thousands of young people who were brought in to carry out online fraud.
In typical romance scams, perpetrators build fake personal relationships through social media, dating apps or messaging platforms. They then ask for money, claiming to be facing an emergency or other financial hardship.
Court also spoke of the human cost. He said people die by suicide somewhere in the world every day after falling victim to fraud, and that businesses are regularly forced to close. He added that many countries still view the problem as a national security threat because of the vast sums leaving their economies and ending up with criminals.
Interpol said it has helped coordinate cross-border enforcement efforts. One such effort, Operation Haechi, ran from April to August 2025. It recovered $342 million in illicit funds and blocked 68,000 bank accounts across 40 countries. The operation targeted a range of cyber-enabled financial crimes, including voice phishing, romance scams, online sextortion, investment fraud, money laundering linked to illegal online gambling, business email compromise and e-commerce fraud.
Related developments in the region and elsewhere have drawn attention in recent weeks. Authorities in Myanmar have proposed the death penalty for operators of cryptocurrency scam compounds. Police in the United Kingdom warned that a sophisticated crypto scam drained millions from a single resident. In Malaysia, a state power company lost $1.1 billion to illegal cryptocurrency mining theft.
Source: The Cool Down
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