Workshop 3 – Regional workshop for Africa 

  14 October 2026

  EN - FR

  16h00 - 17h30 - CET+1

 Agenda

    Room 2

Online fraud is one of the fastest-growing threats to economic security across Africa. While domestic authorities remain constrained by fragmented legal frameworks, limited resources, and weak cross-border coordination mechanisms, criminal networks operate seamlessly across borders from mobile money scams and SIM-swap fraud to phishing campaigns and investment schemes. Addressing this challenge requires more than national action: it demands a shared regional vision. The session is designed as a structured working conversation to identify a provisional set of regional priorities on online fraud that domestic authorities can use as a foundation for future cooperation and policy development. The discussion will be grounded in the current landscape, drawing on the latest data on fraud typologies, trends, and the gaps in existing regional responses. By the close of the session, participants will have produced a ranked shortlist of five to eight regional priorities, a working reference, deliberately framed as a practitioner tool rather than a policy commitment. The output is intended to guide operational cooperation, inform training programmes, and help domestic authorities align their day-to-day work on online fraud. 

Moderator and rapporteur
John Parmley
John Parmley International Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property (ICHIP) Attorney Advisor based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Catalina Stroe
Catalina Stroe Programme Manager, Cybercrime Programme Office of the Council of Europe
Speakers
Essa Sowe
Essa Sowe Regional Specialized Officer for the West Africa region, Côte d’Ivoire, INTERPOL
Jason Tower
Jason Tower Senior Expert for the Global Initiative on Transnational Organized Crime
Kristina Miggiani
Kristina Miggiani Counsel, World Bank
Thatchai Pitaneelabutr
Thatchai Pitaneelabutr Deputy Commissioner-General, Royal Thai Police

   Presentations and panel discussions

  • Materials

   Resources

  • Materials
More information

  If you have any questions related to this workshop, please contact the Octopus Conference Secretariat