Crime syndicates behind a multibillion-pound cyber scam industry are expanding globally as governments in South East Asia struggle to contain them, a UN report has warned.
As they expand business, countries in South America, Africa and Eastern Europe are now being targeted, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said.
The networks and gangs have emerged in South East Asia in recent years, in sprawling compounds housing tens of thousands of people, many trafficked and forced into work, scamming victims abroad.
Sky News previously reported on one of these compounds, and the workers who were tricked, trafficked and forced into working there.
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October 2024 – Scam: Inside Asia’s criminal network
Even as governments in Asia have intensified their crackdowns, the gangs have moved within and beyond the region, the UNODC said.
It warned that a “potentially irreversible spillover has taken place… leaving criminal groups free to pick, choose, and move… as needed”.
“It spreads like a cancer,” John Wojcik, a regional analyst for UNODC, said. “Authorities treat it in one area, but the roots never disappear; they simply migrate.”
Even the more conservative estimates indicate there are hundreds of large-scale scam farms around the world, generating tens of billions of pounds, the UNODC warned.
The agency called on countries to commit to a more joined-up approach to tackle the international issue.
“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,” Mr Wojcik said.
South America, Africa and Eastern Europe targeted
The syndicates have moved to expand into new ground, the UN agency warned.
In South America, the networks were said to be seeking increased partnerships with drug cartels.
Zambia, Angola and Namibia in Africa, and Georgia in Eastern Europe, were also seeing an increasingly established base of scam operations.
Gangs have also diversified their workforces, UNODC said, as they recruit people from dozens of nationalities.
Citizens of more than 50 countries, from Sri Lanka to Uzbekistan and Brazil to Nigeria, were rescued in recent crackdowns on the Thai-Myanmar border.
‘Inflection point’
Recent months have seen authorities from China, Thailand and Myanmar all move to crack down on the scam operations that have thrived particularly in the lawless areas of the Thai-Myanmar border.
Thailand has moved to cut power, fuel and internet to areas housing the scam compounds.
However, the syndicates have adapted and shifted their operations between “the most remote, vulnerable, and underprepared parts of South East Asia”, UNODC said.
This was taking place especially in Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia, where gangs exploited jurisdictions with weak governance and high corruption levels.
In Cambodia, the industry is most visible and raids there led to it expanding into “more remote locations”, including the country’s western Koh Kong province, the UN agency said.
New sites also continue to be developed in Myanmar – a country gripped by an expanding conflict and recently hit by a deadly earthquake.
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UNODC said the international community was at a “critical inflection point”, with failures to tackle the issue properly now leading to “unprecedented consequences for Southeast Asia that reverberate globally”.
A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy told Sky News: “China attaches great importance to engage in international and regional endeavours in a responsible and constructive manner to deal with this cross-border issue.
“Substantial progress has been achieved since this year. China will continue to work with relevant parties to crack down on telecom fraud and other cross-border illegal and criminal activities.”
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