Governments worldwide are struggling to contain the growing threat of a multibillion-dollar cyber scam industry that originally flourished in Southeast Asia but has now expanded to South America, Africa, and Eastern Europe, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), as reported by Reuters.
Once confined to large, sprawling scam farms, criminal networks have evolved into highly agile operations, shifting to regions with weak governance and high corruption. John Wojcik, a regional analyst for the UNODC, described the phenomenon as a “cancer” that relocates when pressured, saying, “Authorities treat it in one area, but the roots never disappear; they simply migrate.”
Despite intensified crackdowns in Thailand and China, the syndicates have relocated to remote areas of Laos, western Cambodia, and along the Thai-Myanmar border to maintain their profitable scams. The UNODC estimates that hundreds of large-scale scam farms now generate tens of billions of dollars in annual profits by exploiting trafficked workers to target online victims. Many of those rescued during recent raids have come from over 50 countries, including Brazil, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, and Uzbekistan.
In 2023, the United States alone reported more than $5.6 billion in losses due to cryptocurrency scams, with romance and “pig-butchering” schemes resulting in significant fraud, particularly targeting elderly and vulnerable individuals. The UNODC warns that cyber fraud has outpaced other forms of transnational crime due to its scalability and cross-border reach, which allows criminals to target victims without the need to transport illicit goods.
The UNODC cautioned that failure to address this global cyber fraud “cancer” could lead to the entrenchment of a permanent, borderless criminal industry, undermining financial systems and exploiting vulnerable populations for years to come.
