Large-scale online scams are no longer just a cybercrime problem. Increasingly, they are run by organised crime groups that rely on victims working in purpose-built scam compounds, generating enormous criminal profits and causing widespread social harm. This session explores how these operations are evolving into a broader security threat, with growing links to corruption, regional instability, and other forms of serious crime. 

Drawing on the outcomes of the 2025 Octopus Conference, the session will explore at what point does scam centres stop being a crime problem and start being a security problem and how does that distinction change how the international community responds.