'Cancer' of billion-dollar cyberscam industry spreading globally
FILE PHOTO: A general view of Shwe Kokko city, a casino, entertainment, and tourism complex, from Thailand's side of the border, after Thailand said it would suspend electricity supply to some border areas with Myanmar in an effort to curb scam centers, amid growing pressure on the illegal compounds that have ensnared vast numbers of people of multiple nationalities, in Mae Sot district, Thailand, February 5, 2025. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Victims of scam centers who were tricked or trafficked into working in Myanmar, stuck in limbo at a compound inside the KK Park, a fraud factory, and a human trafficking hub on the border with Thailand-Myanmar after a multinational crackdown on the compounds run by criminal gangs, operated by the Karen Border Guard Force (BGF) in Myawaddy, Myanmar, February 26, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Multinational victims of scam centers, who were tricked or trafficked into working in Myanmar, stand on a vessel floating towards the Thai side of border via Moei River in Phop Phra District, Tak province, Thailand February 12, 2025. REUTERS/Krit Phromsakla Na Sakolnakorn/File Photo
BANGKOK - Asian crime syndicates behind the multibillion-dollar cyberscam industry are expanding globally including to South America and Africa, as raids in Southeast Asia fail to contain their activities, the United Nations said in a report on Monday.
Criminal networks that emerged 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, have evolved into a sophisticated global industry, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said.
Even as Southeast Asian governments have intensified a crackdown, syndicates have moved within and beyond 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 spreads like a cancer,' said John Wojcik, a regional analyst for UNODC. 'Authorities treat it in one area, but the roots never disappear; they simply migrate.'
Conservative 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 move or traffic illicit goods across borders,' said Wojcik.
The United States alone reported more than $5.6 billion in losses to cryptocurrency scams in 2023, including more than $4 million in so-called pig-butchering scams or romance scams designed to extort money from often elderly and vulnerable people.
'INFLECTION POINT'
In recent months, authorities from China, where many of the gangs originate, Thailand and Myanmar have led a crackdown on scam operations in lawless 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 underprepared parts of Southeast Asia', especially in Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia, and beyond, exploiting jurisdictions with weak governance and high rates of corruption, the UNODC said.
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.
New sites also continue to be developed in Myanmar, it added, a country in the throes of an expanding conflict since the military seized power four years ago.
Spokespeople for the Cambodian government and Myanmar junta did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Syndicates have expanded into South America, the U.N. agency said, seeking to enhance money laundering and underground banking partnerships with South American drug cartels.
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, reflecting how the industry scams targets across the globe and has sought to evade anti-trafficking efforts.
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'. REUTERS
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