UN warns of massive cyberscams spreading across the world
Asian crime networks behind the multi-billion-dollar cyberscam industry are expanding their operations globally, the UN warned in a report released on Monday, adding that the official clampdown in Southeast Asia is failing to contain them.
The UN said Chinese and Southeast Asian gangs were targeting victims through investment, cryptocurrency, romance and other scams.
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), cyberscams are now a sophisticated global industry, featuring sprawling compounds housing tens of thousands of mostly trafficked workers who are forced to con other people online.
Pacific islands also affected
"It spreads like a cancer," said Benedikt Hofmann, UNODC Acting Regional Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific said. "Authorities treat it in one area, but the roots never disappear; they simply migrate."
While the activity had largely been focused on the border areas in Myanmar, a country torn by civil war, and dubious "special economic zones" set up in Cambodia and Laos, UNODC reported networks are expanding their operations to South America, Africa, the Middle East, Europe and some Pacific islands.
Freed captives describe scam operations in Myanmar
"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," Hofmann added.
Countries in east and southeast Asia lost an estimated $37 billion (€32.5 billion) to cyber fraud in 2023, while the United States reported more than $5.6 billion (€4.9 billion) in losses the UNODC report said.
International action needed to tackle crime syndicates
A major crackdown in Myanmar this year, pushed by Beijing, led to around 7,000 workers from more than 50 countries being freed.
There were also raids in Cambodia, but they prompted the crime syndicates to move to "more remote locations" and border areas. Cambodian government spokesman Pen Bona said the country is among the victims of the cyberfraud industry and is committed to fighting it. According to Bona, the government has established an ad-hoc commission chaired by Prime Minister Hun Manet which seeks to boost law enforcement and legal tools while working with international partners and the UN.
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