Cyberscams are spreading globally, U.N. office reports
By: Poppy McPherson
Reuters
BANGKOK - Asian crime syndicates behind the multibillion-dollar cyberscam industry are expanding globally including to South American and Africa, as raids in Southeast Asia fail to contain their activities, the United Nations said in a report on April 21. [2025]
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Criminal networks that engaged in Southeast Asia in recent years, opening sprawling compounds housing tens of thousands of workers, many trafficked and forced to scam victims around the world, evolved into a sophisticated global industry, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said.
..... Even as Southeast Asia governments have intensified a crackdown, syndicates have moved within the region, the agency said, adding that a "potentially irreversible spillover has taken place... leaving criminal groups free to pick, choose, and move... as needed.
..... "It spread like a cancer," said Benedikt Hofmann UNODC acting regional representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific. "Authorities treat it in one area, but the roots never disappear; they simply migrate."
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Estimates indicate there are hundreds of large-scale scam farms around the world generating tens of billions of dollars in annual profits, the UNODC said. The agency called on countries to work together and intensify efforts to disrupt the gangs' financing.
..... "The regional cyberfraud industry... has outpaced other transnational crimes, given that it is easily scalable and able to reach millions of potential victims Online, with no need to mover or traffic illicit goods across borders," said John Wojcik, a regional analyst with UNODC> The United States alone reported more than $5.6 billion in losses to cryptocurrency scams in 2023, including more than $4 million in scams designed to extort money from often elderly and vulnerable people.
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In recent months, authorities from China, were many of the gangs originate, Thailand and Myanmar have led a crackdown on scam operations in areas of the Thai-Myanmar border, with Thailand cutting power, fuel and Internet supply to areas housing scam compounds.
..... But syndicates have adapted, shifting operations between "the most remote, vulnerable, and under prepared parts of Southeast Asia," especially in Laso, Myanmar and Cambodia, and beyond exploiting jurisdictions with weak governance and high rates of corruption, the UNODC said.
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Raids in parts of Cambodia where the industry is most visible "led to significant expansion in more remote locations," including the country's western Koh Kong province, as well as areas bordering Thailand and Vietnam, the U,N. agency said.
..... Cambodian government spokesperson Pen Bona said the country is committed to fighting cyberfraud.
..... The government recently established an ad-hoc commission chaired by Prime Minister Hun Manet to address the issue by strengthening law enforcement, developing a legislative framework and increasing collaboration with partner nations and the U. N., he said.
.... To overcome the "complex problem, we need collaboration not blame," he said.
..... A spokesperson for the Myanmar junta did not immediately respond to request for comment.
..... Syndicates have expanded into South America, the U.N. agency said, seeking to enhance money laundering and underground banking partnership with South American drug cartels.
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They are increasingly establishing operations in Africa, including in Zambia, Angola, and Namibia, and in Eastern Europe, including Georgia, the agency said.
..... Gangs have also rapidly diversified their workforce, recruiting people from dozens of nationalities, according to the agency.
..... Citizens of more than 50 countries - from Brazil to Nigeria, Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan - were rescued during recent crackdowns on the Thai-Myanmar border.
..... The international community is at a "critical inflection point," the UNODC said, urging that failure to address the problem would have "unprecedented consequences for Southeast Asia that reverberate globally."