UN Says Southeast Asia Scam Losses Hit Up to $114.1B in 2025
UNODC said the scam economy is expanding across multiple crimes and now relies on AI, laundering networks and trafficked workers.
- A United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime report released Tuesday revealed Southeast Asia-based criminal groups built a massive illicit economy, with scams causing combined losses of $88.3 billion to $114.1 billion in 2025.
- As authorities in Thailand, China, Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia conduct crackdowns on industrial-sized scam centers, criminal networks have responded by shifting operations offshore or operating on smaller, decentralized scales.
- Using AI-powered translations, crime syndicates target victims worldwide with deepfakes and phishing content, the report said. Criminals also utilize a "criminal service infrastructure" involving cryptocurrency and encrypted communications.
- The report identifies the Sulu-Celebes maritime "triangle" between Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines as a major smuggling corridor for cocaine and wildlife. East Asian crime syndicates also use AI to facilitate child sexual abuse and trafficking.
- To combat this evolving criminal ecosystem, the UNODC said authorities need a coordinated, cross-border strategy integrating enforcement across financial, communications, and online service systems.
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69 Articles
UN: Transnational Gangs Use Drugs, Cybercrime, and Slavery to Loot Asia
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) published a report on Tuesday that found transnational gangs looted at least $88 billion from Southeast Asia in 2025, using a wide variety of telephone and cyber scams, often employing slave labor at notorious “scam centers” that resemble prison camps. The post U.N. Report: Transnational Gangs Use Drugs, Cybercrime, and Slavery to Loot Southeast Asia appeared first on Breitbart.
Over 300,000 people trafficked into Southeast Asia scam hubs yearly, generate $64bn
…Agency unveils week-long activities to mark 2026 World Day Against Trafficking in Persons By Favour Ulebor, Abuja The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has disclosed that more than 300,000 people are trafficked annually into online scam operations across Southeast Asia, generating an estimated $64 billion for transnational criminal networks. Director-General […] The post Over 300,000 people trafficked into S…
UNODC report says Southeast Asian illegal online gambling creating cycle of crime that targets the youth
A report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) says that illegal online gambling in Southeast Asia is creating a feedback loop that drives youth into crime. In its latest report, entitled “An Interconnected Criminal Ecosystem: Transnational Organized Crime Threat Assessment for Southeast Asia 2026,” the UNODC has given its traditional warnings regarding money laundering through casinos, corruption leading to the appearance o…
Hong Kong Free Press
Scam losses in Asian regions up to $114 bn in 2025: UN
Victims of transnational online scams in East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand lost up to $114.1 billion last year, a UN report said on Tuesday, with estimated losses at least tripling from 2023. Southeast Asia, especially Cambodia and Myanmar, has emerged as a regional hub for crime syndicates running fake romance and cryptocurrency […]
Scam centers in Southeast Asia are collecting billions of dollars using hundreds of thousands of forced laborers. According to the United Nations, the backmen are now recruiting more people from Germany.
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