GASA launches Europe chapter to coordinate anti-scam action

According to the Global Anti-Scam Alliance, the first meeting of its new Europe Chapter took place in Brussels, bringing together regulators, consumer groups and government officials who normally work on fraud from separate corners of the system.

The meeting mattered because of who was in the room, not just what was said. Miguel De Bruycker, Director General of the Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium, opened by describing Belgium's approach to coordinating action against online fraud. Jorij Abraham, Managing Director of GASA, presented findings from the State of Scams in Europe 2026, a survey drawing on responses from more than 22,000 people across 15 European countries. Ted Moore of the UK Home Office set out the UK Fraud Strategy, built on three pillars: disrupt, safeguard and respond, with particular attention to cutting off the infrastructure and services that let fraud operate at scale.

Why a chapter, not just a meeting

Andrei Skorobogatov, Policy Director at GASA, introduced the Europe Chapter itself: a structure meant to sit underneath global anti-scam cooperation and handle the problems that only make sense at a regional or national level. Els Bruggeman, Head of Policy and Enforcement at Euroconsumers, explained why her organisation joined. She pointed to a problem familiar to anyone who has tried to report a scam: victims often have to navigate several different organisations before they find one that can actually help. She also raised the idea of national anti-scam centres, single points where stakeholders and information come together, and the need to connect those centres across European borders.

What the meeting exposed

Much of the discussion centred on data and intelligence sharing. Organisations described the difficulty of exchanging information across sectors while staying inside European data protection rules such as GDPR. Sectors also classify scams differently and measure prevention differently, which makes comparison harder before any sharing even starts. The value of this meeting was not a new tool or a new law. It was an admission, made jointly by a cybersecurity agency, a government fraud unit, a consumer group and an industry alliance, that no single sector currently holds enough of the picture to act alone.

For someone who has reported a scam and been passed between agencies, that admission is the useful part. It signals an attempt to build the connective structure that was missing, rather than another isolated initiative from a single organisation. GASA says it will use the discussion to shape the Chapter's next steps, including further collaboration, research and practical initiatives across Europe. Organisations interested in contributing to the Europe Chapter can contact GASA to learn more and get involved.