https://kmaupdates.com/2025/04/21/un-warns-asian-online-scam-operations-are-spreading-across-the-world/

New Online Markets, Money Laundering Networks, Stolen Data Products, Malware, Artificial Intelligence And Deepfake Technologies Are Laying The Ground For The Rise Of Crime As A Service, The UN Report Says.

Transnational organised crime groups in East and Southeast Asia are spreading their lucrative scam operations across the globe in response to increased crackdowns by authorities, according to a UN report issued on Monday.

For several years, scam compounds have proliferated in Southeast Asia, especially in the border areas of Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, as well as in the Philippines, with scammers shifting operations from site to site to stay one step ahead of the police.

More recently, scam centres that have cheated victims out of billions of dollars through false romantic ploys, bogus investment pitches and illegal gambling schemes are now being reported operating as far afield as Africa and Latin America.

Asian crime syndicates have been expanding operations deeper into remote areas with lax law enforcement that are vulnerable to the influx, according to the report issued by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNDOC).

More than 250 people from 20 nations who were reportedly rescued from alleged scam centres in Myanmar, 12 February, 2025AP/AP

“This reflects both a natural expansion as the industry grows and seeks new ways and places to do business, but also a hedging against future risks should disruption continue and intensify in Southeast Asia,” Benedikt Hofmann, UNODC’s acting regional representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said in a statement.

UNODC estimates that hundreds of industrial-scale scam centres generate just under $40 billion (€35 billion) in annual profits.

The trend to hedge beyond the region has been consistent with continued reports of crackdowns targeting Asian-led scam centres that have been found operating in Africa, South Asia, the Middle East and select Pacific islands, as well as related money laundering, people trafficking and recruitment services discovered in Europe, North America and South America.