The United Nations has raised serious concerns over the rapid global spread of cybercrime networks originating from Asia, now reaching deep into Africa, South America, and beyond. According to a new report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), these criminal syndicates, which began in countries like Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar, are expanding operations worldwide, evolving into sophisticated and highly organized networks.
The UNODC report, released Monday, describes how these operations have grown beyond their regional roots, becoming a massive global industry. Despite efforts by local governments to crack down on their activities, the syndicates have become more advanced and adaptable, making it harder to stop their spread. The report highlights that one of their key strategies is hiring from over 50 countries, including Nigeria, Brazil, Sri Lanka, and Uzbekistan, allowing them to blend in and reach a wider pool of victims.
These cybercriminal groups are running massive compounds where tens of thousands of people, many of whom are victims of human trafficking, are forced to work on scams targeting individuals across the globe. John Wojcik, a regional analyst for the UNODC, described the phenomenon as a form of organized crime that “spreads like a cancer.” He noted that while authorities may crack down in one area, the operations simply relocate and continue growing elsewhere.
UNODC estimates that hundreds of these scam operations are active around the world today, generating tens of billions of dollars each year. The sheer scale and profitability of these scams have made them one of the fastest-growing forms of transnational crime. Because they operate online, these frauds don’t require the physical movement of goods across borders, making them easier to scale and harder to detect.
The report also shows that the Asian cyber scam expansion is now reaching South America and Africa, where weak governance and corruption offer fertile ground for criminal activities. These criminal networks are reportedly building new partnerships with South American drug cartels to expand their money laundering and underground banking operations. At the same time, they are establishing new scam centers in countries like Zambia, Angola, and Namibia, as well as in parts of Eastern Europe, such as Georgia. The criminal syndicates have continued to diversify their workforce, recruiting people from dozens of nationalities to make their schemes harder to track and disrupt.
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The UN agency noted that even intensified crackdowns in parts of Asia, like the Thai-Myanmar border region where authorities have cut off electricity, fuel, and internet accesshave not stopped the growth of these operations. Instead, the syndicates have moved deeper into remote or poorly governed areas in Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar, including conflict zones and areas with little law enforcement presence.
Evidence of this global spread was also recently seen in Nigeria, where the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arrested 792 people in a major operation targeting cryptocurrency investment fraud and romance scams. Among those arrested were 148 Chinese nationals, who were said to be recruiters, along with 40 Filipinos, two Kazakhs, one Pakistani, and one Indonesian. The EFCC revealed that these foreign nationals operated from a high-end Lagos office building that appeared to be a legitimate financial institution. They were using the facility to train Nigerian accomplices on how to carry out online scams, including love scams and fake investment opportunities. The scammers also used Nigerian identities to give their operations an air of legitimacy and to avoid detection.
The UNODC emphasized that global cooperation is needed now more than ever. With the Asian cyber scam expansion showing no signs of slowing down, and cyberfraud losses continuing to mount—such as the over $5.6 billion lost to cryptocurrency scams in the U.S. in 2023 the international community must act swiftly. A large portion of those losses came from so-called “pig-butchering” scams, where vulnerable victims, often elderly, are manipulated into fake romantic relationships and convinced to hand over large sums of money.
Wojcik stressed that this form of crime is outpacing other transnational crimes in both reach and profitability. “This is no longer just a regional issue. It’s a global crisis that requires coordinated international action,” he said. The continued rise of the Asian cyber scam expansion is a wake-up call for law enforcement agencies worldwide, as the threat shows no sign of disappearing.
