Asia's cyber fraudsters are moving to Africa and South America, avoiding crackdowns

Asian crime syndicates behind the multi-billion dollar cyber scam industry are expanding globally, including into South America and Africa. Security raids in Southeast Asia are not deterring their operations, a UN report says. 

UNN reports with reference to Reuters.

Details

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), criminal networks that emerged in Southeast Asia in recent years are opening sprawling compounds housing tens of thousands of workers. Many of these have been trafficked and forced to lure victims globally into the widespread criminal industry.

Although Southeast Asian governments have stepped up crackdowns, the syndicates have relocated within and beyond the region.

There has been a potentially irreversible effect that has allowed criminal groups to move freely as needed. It is spreading like a cancer. The authorities treat it in one area, but the root never disappears, it just migrates

UNODC research indicates there are hundreds of large-scale criminal scam farms globally, yielding tens of billions of dollars in annual revenue. The agency called on countries to work together and step up efforts to disrupt the gangs' funding.

The regional cyber scam industry... is outpacing other transnational crimes, given that it is easy to scale and able to reach millions of potential victims online, without needing to move or transport illicit goods across borders

The United States alone reported over US$5.6 billion in cryptocurrency fraud losses in 2023, including over $4 million from so-called 'pig butchering' or romance scams aimed at extorting money from often elderly and vulnerable people.

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Operations against criminal groups

In recent months, authorities in China, where many of the groups originate, Thailand, and Myanmar have launched crackdowns on scam operations in lawless areas on the Thailand-Myanmar border. Thailand also cut off electricity, fuel, and internet supplies to the areas where scam compounds are located.

But the syndicates have adapted, relocating operations between the "most remote, vulnerable, and ill-prepared parts of Southeast Asia", particularly in Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia and beyond, exploiting jurisdictions with weak governance and high levels of corruption, UNODC said.

Raids in parts of Cambodia where the industry is most visible have "led to significant expansion in remote locations," including the country's western Koh Kong province, as well as areas bordering Thailand and Vietnam, the UN agency said.

New facilities also continue to be developed in Myanmar, which is experiencing a growing armed conflict since the military seized power four years ago.

According to the UN agency, the syndicates have expanded into South America, seeking to strengthen money laundering and underground banking partnerships with South American drug cartels.

They are increasingly establishing operations in Africa, including Zambia, Angola, and Namibia, as well as in Eastern Europe, including Georgia, the agency said. The criminal groups have also rapidly diversified their workforce, recruiting individuals of many nationalities worldwide, the agency added.

Citizens of more than 50 countries – from Brazil to Nigeria, Sri Lanka, and Uzbekistan – have been rescued during recent raids on the Thailand-Myanmar border.

The international community is at a "critical tipping point," the UNODC said, warning that failure to address the issue would have "unprecedented consequences for Southeast Asia that will reverberate globally."

Addition

A number of criminal cases in the United States point to the existence of an ecosystem of mercenary hackers operating for purposes that may benefit the government of the PRC.