<figure id="attachment_3283511" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3283511" style="width: 1600px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-3283511" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/3273738d-afp__20260215__94hu9td__v1__highres__singaporecybercrimeinterpol.webp" alt="" width="1600" height="1000" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3283511" class="wp-caption-text">Neal Jetton, Interpol&#8217;s Singapore-based director of cybercrime, said the organisation supported the crackdown on online scam centres in Southeast Asia. (AFP pic)</figcaption></figure>
SINGAPORE: From perfectly spelled phishing emails to fake videos of government officials, artificial intelligence is changing the game for Interpol&#8217;s cat-and-mouse fight against cybercrime at its high-tech war rooms in Singapore.
Their foe: crime syndicates, structured like multinational firms, which are exploiting the fast-evolving technology to target individuals, states and corporations for billions of dollars.
&#8220;I consider the weaponisation of AI by cybercriminals&#8230; as the biggest threat we&#8217;re seeing,&#8221; Neal Jetton, Interpol&#8217;s Singapore-based director of cybercrime, told AFP.
&#8220;They are using it in whatever way they can,&#8221; added Jetton, who is seconded to Interpol from the US Secret Service, the federal agency in charge of presidential protection.
AFP was granted a look inside the global organisation&#8217;s multi-pronged cybercrime facility, where specialists pore through massive amounts of data in a bid to prevent the next big ransomware attack or impersonation scam.
Jetton said the &#8220;sheer volume&#8221; of cyber attacks worries him the most.
&#8220;It&#8217;s going to only expand, and so you just need to get the word out to people,&#8221; so they understand &#8220;how often they&#8217;re going to be targeted&#8221;, he said.
AI technology is allowing criminals around the world to create sophisticated voice and video copies of well-known figures to endorse scam investments, and helping make dodgy online messages appear more genuine.
Jetton warned that even low-skilled criminals can purchase ready-made hacking and scamming tools on the dark web &#8212; and anyone with a smartphone can be a target.
&#8216;Black market&#8217;
The facility is part of the Interpol Global Complex for Innovation, not far from the Singapore Botanic Gardens.
It is the organisation&#8217;s second headquarters after Lyon in France, and houses the Cyber Fusion Centre, a nerve centre for sharing intelligence of online threats among 196 members.
Another office in the complex studies emerging online threats, while a digital forensics lab extracts and analyses data from electronic devices like laptops, phones and even cars.
A command-and-coordination centre, like a mini space mission control with staff facing big screens, monitors global developments in real time during Asian hours.
Intelligence analysts scrutinise millions of data points &#8212; from web addresses and malware variants to hacker code names &#8212; that could provide leads in active investigations.
Christian Heggen, coordinator of the Cyber Intelligence Unit, said they are up against a &#8220;large ecosystem of cyber criminals&#8221; who use &#8220;a number of different attack vectors&#8221;.
&#8220;They get quite creative. It&#8217;s a whole black market of spying and selling stolen data, buying and selling malware. We have to understand that ecosystem,&#8221; he said.
To strengthen its capabilities, Interpol partners with private firms in finance, cybersecurity and cryptocurrency analysis.
&#8220;It&#8217;s always a cat-and-mouse game, always continually developing. That&#8217;s why a department like this is quite important, because we can provide the latest intelligence and information,&#8221; Heggen said.
&#8216;AI has no soul&#8217;
Last year, Interpol&#8217;s cybercrime directorate coordinated &#8220;Operation Secure&#8221; in Asia, which saw 26 countries work together to dismantle more than 20,000 malicious IP addresses and domains linked to syndicates to steal data.
Another anti-cybercrime operation across Africa, called &#8220;Operation Serengeti 2.0&#8221; coordinated from Singapore, saw authorities arrest 1,209 cybercriminals who targeted nearly 88,000 victims. More than US$97 million was recovered and 11,432 malicious infrastructures were dismantled.
Jetton said Interpol supported the crackdown on online scam centres in Southeast Asia through intelligence-sharing and resource development.
The Innovation Centre&#8217;s head, Toshinobu Yasuhira, a Japanese officer seconded from the National Police Agency, said advances in deepfake technology have become a growing concern, but one of his deeper worries lies ahead: AI acting beyond human control.
&#8220;Should we arrest people who program the AI, or who utilise AI, or should we arrest the AI itself?&#8221; he said in an interview.
&#8220;It&#8217;s kind of very difficult because AI doesn&#8217;t have any soul, heart.&#8221;
Paulo Noronha, a digital forensics expert from Brazil&#8217;s Federal Police, demonstrated some of the lab&#8217;s high-tech tools designed to keep investigators a step ahead.
Experts at the lab are working on the further use of virtual reality, augmented reality and quantum technology against cybercriminals.
&#8220;It&#8217;s up to us to stay ahead of criminals,&#8221; he said. &#8220;That&#8217;s why we have systems like these.&#8221;
For Jetton and his colleagues, the fight rarely enters the public eye, but is vital to global security.
&#8220;We try to be as confidential as we can,&#8221; one intelligence analyst said.
&#8220;We&#8217;re providing key support for operations and investigations around the world.&#8221;

MatchPoint Times

Interpol’s backroom warriors fight cyber criminals ‘weaponising’ AI

At Interpol’s multi-pronged cybercrime facility in Singapore, specialists pore through vast amounts of data in a bid to prevent the next big ransomware attack or impersonation scam.

Marseille’s sporting director Benatia quits club

Umno tak ambil kesempatan krisis parti lain, kata Ahmad Maslan