Euroconsumers is a long standing partner of the Global Anti-Scam Summit, the place where joined-up action on one of the most devastating and pernicious crimes of our time happens.
At this year’s Summit, Euroconsumers continued to emphasise not just the devastating human toll of being defrauded but a significant drain on Europe’s resources.
With a global price tag estimated at $442 billion, it’s clear that fighting online fraud and scams and stopping the flow of valuable resources away from legitimate business is a matter of competitiveness. And it needs the same attention as strategic priorities like security and military defences or trade.
Fraud is a threat to financial inclusion if people are afraid to use the banking system because they’re worried about a scam. And it is a threat to financial stability and integrity because we’re losing hundreds of billions of dollars every year.
Giles Thomson, Financial Action Task Force (FATF)
Over the years GASA and Euroconsumers have brokered huge progress in information sharing, agency co-ordination, centralised reporting gateways, anti-scam tech and victim support but we know that we need deeper, broader and higher-level measures to mount a proper defence against criminals at the European and global level.
To respond to this international network of fraudsters, we must be even more organised, more fast moving and work across borders more quickly than the criminals.
Online fraud dissolves trust between individuals, society, law enforcement, e-commerce and our ability to fight something so insidious. We have to make sure the response is full system, cross-sector, cross-jurisdictional approach, drives down ability of criminals to operate.
Andrei Skorobogatov. Director of Policy, Global Anti-Scam Alliance
At Global Anti-Scam Summit 2026, we drove forward discussions on how to make this happen:
This Euroconsumers workshop examined the latest developments in fraud policy across Europe and how it can strengthen its collective response to online fraud.
They explored how a raft of initiatives like the EU Fraud Action Plan, the Payment Services Regulation, the Digital Services Act, and the proposed Digital Networks Act can come together as a unified front in the battle against fraud?
Recent Euroconsumers’ research revealed 80% of Europeans have fallen victim to scams. This mostly happens through false online advertising, impersonation and investment fraud and everyone is a target:
There is a fraud for everyone, we used to think there was a profile of people who would fall victim, now we see that everyone can be de-frauded. Fraudsters are becoming more equipped and employ very sophisticated techniques.
Matylda Pogorzelska, EU Agency for Fundamental Rights
Angelique Miet from the European Commission has a background in police work and is now applying those skills to defeat scammers at DG HOME where she is co-ordinating the Commission’s Action Plan on Fighting Online Fraud.
She reported back on the public consultation feedback which included concerns about: how responsibility is shared between banks, platforms and law enforcement, and how to facilitate the coordination on information sharing despite fragmented EU rules.
The Action Plan will aim to connect the silos in regulation and agencies and put victims at the centre and make clear who is responsible for what.
Euroconsumers knows from its direct research with consumers how vital a simple, single point of information and support is for victims. Simplicity and clarity after a distressing crime is essential to help them navigate the often painful journey that follows being scammed:
I dream of having a one stop shop for victims where they can get all the information and support, info about their rights and also all the information about the steps that they need to take.
Matylda Pogorzelska, EU Agency for Fundamental Rights
Aislinn Lucheroni from DG CONNECT reminded us that the Action Plan is not starting from scratch. Enforcement is already underway under the Digital Services Act provisions on online fraud against Very Large Online Platforms for making it too difficult for users to report scams and other illegal content on their sites.
The UK three year Fraud Strategy aims to tackle fraud with a three part approach: Disrupt, Safeguard, and Respond. Disrupt by reducing criminals’ access to tools and technologies, safeguarding is done by building resilience. Response is all about consumers, improving victim support plus making sure criminals face the consequences for what they have done.
Speakers from the City of London Police, the lead police force on online fraud, CIFAS an online fraud protection service, TRM Labs who design AI-enabled tools to fight scammers, and BT Group a national Telco, spoke about the challenges of delivering on the promise of the Online Crime Centre, improved victim support through Report Fraud, and establishing true international coordination.
Euroconsumers joined a panel on the landmark UN-INTERPOL Global Fraud Summit in Vienna. Held in March 2026, the summit was the first time that online fraud was recognized for what it was: a political and economic priority.
At the event, 44 countries and participants pledged concrete actions to combat fraud, including: prioritizing international law enforcement action against fraud; recognizing fraud as an organized transnational threat; denying criminals the ability to profit from fraud; strengthening public-private cooperation and protecting and supporting victims.
Three months later, a panel at the Global Anti-Scam Summit made up of experts from INTERPOL, Google, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), UNODC and Bitdefender, took forward the momentum of the Vienna Summit. They shared their take on making these commitments to stronger global co-ordination a reality.
Speakers highlighted the urgency of staying ahead of AI-enabled fraud, including the proliferation of ads that target and recruit potential victims well before the actual scam is carried out.
The value in public-private collaborations and information sharing was said to be crucial:
We need concrete collaborations, we have companies who are very concerned and working hard to fight scams but we need to join forces with other companies, the police and governments as they are the ones who can go get these criminals out.
Jean-Jaques Sahel, Google
We need a whole of government approach, a whole of public-private approach – we’re not sufficiently putting all the resources that government and the private sector have at our disposal to combat fraud.
Giles Thomson, Financial Action Task Force (FATF)
Some flagged the fundamentals of prevention and awareness as a strength, raising awareness of common tactics.
But speaking to other participants, there was a strong sense that education would never be enough, especially with the rise of AI enabled scams. We need a multi-layered defence where the consumer has as much awareness as possible, but where they are not held solely responsible for their protection.
For Euroconsumers’ head of policy and enforcement Els Bruggeman, the inclusion of consumers at in the UN-Interpol recommendations resonated deeply:
Often, we organize discussions between industry, banks, police and platforms, overlooking those experiencing the biggest impact: victims.
But the people who have faced scams firsthand are among the most valuable voices in any room. Their insights don’t just illustrate the problem, they point to the most impactful solutions.
Resonating across all the panels was the value of people who have experienced scams. They have been made victims by fraudsters, but have also become a crucial asset to help every anti-scam approach stronger. Their experience does not just illustrate the problem, it gives clues on latest scam practice, on manipulation, and on how the reporting and support journey afterwards feels.
And more, their insights point to solutions, understanding what interventions would work and what wouldn’t, understanding how the first response from banks or police can harm them even more than the scam, and discourage consumer reporting.
The message is clear: we cannot afford to keep treating victims as a side conversation, they need a seat at the main table.
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Defeating fraud goes beyond consumer protection, it is integral to Europe’s economic resilience and competitiveness.
Euroconsumers, UK Home Office and Global Anti Scams Alliance co-host the biggest ever Global Anti Scam Summit next week in London and keep the focus firmly on victim impact.
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Euroconsumers co-hosted the 2024 Global Anti Scams Summit and calls for better aftercare for consumer victims of online scams
