Erin West’s Powerful Keynote; Kicking-Off a New Era of Leadership; and AI‑Fueled Scams Lead the Conversation
Erin West's keynote address at M3AAWG's 66th General Meeting in San Diego opened with five words that served as a stark reminder of why so many attendees were there: “We are at crisis level.”
With several decades of experience as a prosecutor, Erin West is the founder of Operation Shamrock, a movement seeking to dismantle the world’s scam ecosystem that has reached a crisis level.
Erin’s keynote came just days after her second trip to Southeast Asia in as many years, where she investigated the harsh underbelly of the world’s “scamdemic.” Scam compounds throughout the region resemble prisons and operate at a ruthless pace, with human trafficked victims forced to fuel the highly lucrative “pig butchering” scams.
"This is the biggest financial smack in the face to Americans we’ve ever seen, and the criminals have smartly chosen a form of crime that victims are often too embarrassed to report," Erin said.
Alongside her team with Operation Shamrock, she is calling for a stronger national reporting system to better understand the crime and for improved public education (victims come from all ages and backgrounds). She also advocates stronger victim services and better coordination among law enforcement and regulators.
- Later in the day, M3AAWG attendees were invited to join a Guided Keynote Discussion Birds of a Feather (BoF) session to discuss the keynote in depth with Erin.
- Erin also led a separate panel in San Diego discussing what the industry is doing, current gaps, and opportunities to better combat conversational scams initiated by unsolicited messages.
For those looking to stay in touch with Erin and her Operation Shamrock team:
AI-Driven Countermeasures for AI-Driven Challenges
Given the complexity of the AI landscape that mutates between M3AAWG gatherings, an overarching theme of the meeting was AI‑based abuse and countermeasures. These included sessions covering:
- “Shadow data” as a new attack surface, data privacy, consent, and governance challenges that create fertile grounds for cyber-abuse attacks.
- Massive, AI-curated datasets that drive fraud with unprecedented accuracy.
- Security risks of agentic AI that have led to data leaks and fraud, and measures to harden agentic architectures against them.
- AI’s use in building long-term engagement with scammers to investigate pig butchering tactics.
- A culture of “AI slop” that has led to IP theft, misinformation, and an erosion of trust, and AI‑driven detection, classification, and triage systems — alongside human expertise — that fight back.
- How AI can enhance email abuse detection.
Additional themes covered throughout the three days of presentations, working sessions, Open Roundtables (ORTs), and Lightning Talks include:
- What the latest research can tell us about deploying anti-phishing training and how phishing is evolving to evade reputation-based defenses.
- The use of URL-only phishing detection techniques is being fueled by machine learning.
- What we can learn about battling the largest DDoS botnet on record.
- How empathy and communication can bridge a decades-long disconnect between senders and receivers in the email industry.
- Forging a realistic pathway towards a DKIM2 transition.
- Building effective Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) security architecture despite modern hardware constraints.
The Newest Era for M3AAWG Begins Now
The end of our meeting in San Diego officially marked the start of our organizational restructure and the arrival of a new group of M3AAWG members stepping into leadership roles on our Committees, SIGs, and Board of Directors. Learn more about the Committee Chairs and SIG Leaders, as well as the Board of Directors Officers update.
An interactive and informative Priority Committee and SIG Leadership Working Session was held in San Diego to welcome this team of leaders to their new roles.
“With this new group of volunteer leaders at the helm, we feel confident we are on the path toward ensuring that every member knows exactly how their expertise aligns with our mission so we can bring new and diverse voices into the fight against online abuse,” said M3AAWG Executive Director Amy Cadagin.
New leadership is tasked with furthering the M3AAWG mission and supporting the organization’s Initiatives, which are the work items aligned with our Priorities and Focus Areas.
Looking toward M3AAWG67 and Beyond
M3AAWG is currently seeking session proposals for our upcoming 67th General Meeting, taking place June 8–11, 2026, in Montréal, Canada, with a submission deadline of April 6. Please visit the Call for Proposals page to access and submit proposal forms. Proposals are also open for M3AAWG 68 (Paris - October 2026) and M3AAWG 69 (Vancouver - February 2027).
Get Involved in a Trusted Global Anti-Abuse Forum Learn about the benefits of being a M3AAWG member company and how to apply to become a member..Learn more about the application process
Please stay tuned to this blog and our social media channels, including Facebook and LinkedIn, for real-time updates on these discussions and more, as we look towards M3AAWG67 in Montreal.