Cancer of billion dollar cyberscam industry spreading globally UN

BANGKOK - Asian crime syndicates behind the multibillion-dollar cyberscam industry are expanding globally including to South America and Africa, as raids in South-east Asia fail to contain their activities, the UN said in a report on April 21.

Criminal networks that emerged in South-east 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 South-east 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 UNODC’s regional analyst John Wojcik. “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 worldwide generating tens of billions of dollars in annual profits, the UNODC said.

It urged 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 Mr Wojcik.

The US alone reported more than US$5.6 billion (S$7.34 billion) in losses to crypto currency scams in 2023, including over US$4 million in so-called pig-butchering scams or romance scams designed to extort money from often elderly and vulnerable people.

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