Crime gangs steal $88 billion using AI and deepfakes, outpacing law enforcement across Asia

Crime gangs snare more than $88 billion in scams in Asia-Pacific, UN says

BANGKOK, July 21 (Reuters) - Scam gangs defrauded Asia-Pacific residents of at least $88 billion in 2025, a United Nations office said on Tuesday, with transnational crime groups rapidly evolving tactics to stay ahead of law enforcement. Criminals in Southeast Asia, an epicentre for cyberfraud by mostly Chinese-origin syndicates, are outpacing crackdowns, diversifying revenue streams, exploiting corruption and harnessing artificial intelligence, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in a new report. The report estimated scam losses across East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand between $88.3 billion and $114.1 billion for 2025, ⁠a figure larger than the GDP of several of the nations in the region. Networks that once operated within specific territories or illicit trades are increasingly expanding across multiple illegal markets while using shared services, said Delphine Schantz, UNODC Regional Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific. "Their operating model looks like corporate franchising: imagine specialized departments for laundering money, trafficking people, smuggling migrants, and harvesting data, all plugged into the same, service-based interconnected network," she said. Scam centres in Southeast Asia run illegal online schemes that defraud people worldwide, generating billions of dollars of annual revenue. Many facilities are staffed by trafficked foreign nationals, confined in oppressive environments. People from at least 80 countries and territories have been identified in scam compounds across the region, with recruitment networks ⁠using transit hubs in Asia, the Middle East and Africa, according to UNODC. AGENTIC AI Scam operators are increasingly seeking recruits from outside Asia as they expand into new markets, UNODC said. Recruitment advertisements linked to the industry's communication channels have targeted people with German, Polish, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, French, Swedish, Norwegian and English language skills, it said. Recent pressure from law enforcement in the region has displaced but not dismantled ⁠operations, UNODC said, with gangs relocating from countries like Myanmar and Laos to East Timor, Pacific Island states, and parts of Africa. Syndicates engage in "jurisdiction shopping" to find places with weak governance and regulation, the report said, adding that corruption was the "primary enabler" of tech-driven organised crime in ⁠the region. Beyond using generative AI to create content, criminal groups are expected to adopt agentic AI systems to more autonomously identify victims, conduct social-engineering campaigns and facilitate cryptocurrency theft and laundering, the report said. The scam sector's rapid growth has fuelled ⁠an ecosystem of ancillary criminal services, including money laundering, underground banking and data trading, it said. "The scale and complexity of this expanding organised crime economy are outpacing existing responses, which were not structured to address such sophisticated criminal activity," said Inshik Sim, a lead analyst at UNODC. Reporting by Poppy McPherson in Bangkok; Editing by Michael Perry Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

International criminal groups use technology to expand in and beyond Asia, UN report says

BANGKOK (AP) -- Southeast Asia-based criminal groups are using increasingly integrated networks and technology to build a rapidly growing illicit economy with tentacles that reach far beyond Asia, with scams alone causing estimated combined losses of $88.3 billion to $114.1 billion in 2025, a U.N. report says. The report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime outlines how transnational crime that used to be concentrated in Southeast Asia has expanded to other regions, while global criminal groups are increasingly engaging in drug, human and wildlife trafficking in Asia. Criminals are using new technologies to launder money through global financial systems and using artificial intelligence to steal from victims worldwide, said the report, released Tuesday. Children are increasingly at risk One key finding of the report is the threat to children both from AI and from online gaming, as hundreds of scam compounds scattered across Southeast Asia provide venues for sex trafficking and selling of child sexual abuse content. "There is a huge jump in AI-generated child sexual images ... communicated through encrypted communications platforms," said Inshik Sim, UNODC researcher and coordinator for the report, told reporters at a briefing at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand. East Asian crime syndicates are running businesses that use malware, generative AI and deepfakes for sexual extortion and exploitation in a trend that increases risks of in-person abuse as well as livestreamed abuse and grooming of victims. Apart from outright trafficking for the sex industry, victims can be sold into domestic servitude, forced begging and forced labor, among other forms of exploitation, the report says. Social media and online gaming and gambling also pose dangers for children, the report notes, citing surveys showing that hundreds of children and teens across Southeast Asia are engaged in online gambling, some to the extent of addiction. Trafficking in drugs, guns tobacco and wildlife is expanding The report estimates the combined annual sales of illicit drugs in Southeast Asia and nearby countries at up to $109 billion, with seizures of illegal shipments soaring. That includes methamphetamines, heroin and ketamine. It points to the Sulu-Celebes maritime "triangle" between Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines as an increasingly important corridor for shipments of cocaine from Latin America to Asia, with illicit cargoes sometimes embedded in legitimate shipments such as Chinese tea. The area is also often used for smuggling of wildlife and small arms, the report says. Meanwhile, Thailand and Vietnam increasingly are the source of cannabis sent to Japan, where it is illegal, and to Europe, it says. Earlier this year, authorities in Malaysia's Sabah seized more than 3 tons of methamphetamine, ketamine and ecstasy in the largest such seizure for Sabah so far. Money laundering and other tools keep criminals in business The report outlines how cross border financial and technology networks are supporting what it calls a "criminal service infrastructure" that facilitates global organized crime. The tools used include cryptocurrency, encrypted and private communications platforms and generative AI to create convincing phishing content, deploy real-time deepfake videos and voice calls. Using AI-powered translations, they can target victims across many languages at the same time, the report says. Satellite communications also enable scam compounds to operate in places that are remote or subject to close surveillance. To counter this growing criminal ecosystem, authorities need a coordinated, cross-border strategy that integrates enforcement across data, communications and financial systems, and online services and marketplaces, the report said. Crackdowns drive scam centers offshore and underground As authorities in Thailand, China and elsewhere have raided industrial-sized scam centers mostly located in border regions of Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia, criminals have responded by shifting to other parts of the world or operating on a smaller scale. "They were destroyed, but none of the operations stopped," said Seong Jae Shin, an analyst and counter-terrorism office at the UNODC. Scam centers moved to villas and other properties, he said, going underground. "It's much harder for the Cambodian authorities to crack down now," he said.

International Criminal Groups Use Technology to Expand in and Beyond Asia, UN Report Says

BANGKOK (AP) -- Southeast Asia-based criminal groups are using increasingly integrated networks and technology to build a rapidly growing illicit economy with tentacles that reach far beyond Asia, with scams alone causing estimated combined losses of $88.3 billion to $114.1 billion in 2025, a U.N. report says. The report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime outlines how transnational crime that used to be concentrated in Southeast Asia has expanded to other regions, while global criminal groups are increasingly engaging in drug, human and wildlife trafficking in Asia. Criminals are using new technologies to launder money through global financial systems and using artificial intelligence to steal from victims worldwide, said the report, released Tuesday. Children are increasingly at risk One key finding of the report is the threat to children both from AI and from online gaming, as hundreds of scam compounds scattered across Southeast Asia provide venues for sex trafficking and selling of child sexual abuse content. "There is a huge jump in AI-generated child sexual images ... communicated through encrypted communications platforms," said Inshik Sim, UNODC researcher and coordinator for the report, told reporters at a briefing at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand. East Asian crime syndicates are running businesses that use malware, generative AI and deepfakes for sexual extortion and exploitation in a trend that increases risks of in-person abuse as well as livestreamed abuse and grooming of victims. Apart from outright trafficking for the sex industry, victims can be sold into domestic servitude, forced begging and forced labor, among other forms of exploitation, the report says. Social media and online gaming and gambling also pose dangers for children, the report notes, citing surveys showing that hundreds of children and teens across Southeast Asia are engaged in online gambling, some to the extent of addiction. Trafficking in drugs, guns tobacco and wildlife is expanding The report estimates the combined annual sales of illicit drugs in Southeast Asia and nearby countries at up to $109 billion, with seizures of illegal shipments soaring. That includes methamphetamines, heroin and ketamine. It points to the Sulu-Celebes maritime "triangle" between Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines as an increasingly important corridor for shipments of cocaine from Latin America to Asia, with illicit cargoes sometimes embedded in legitimate shipments such as Chinese tea. The area is also often used for smuggling of wildlife and small arms, the report says. Meanwhile, Thailand and Vietnam increasingly are the source of cannabis sent to Japan, where it is illegal, and to Europe, it says. Earlier this year, authorities in Malaysia's Sabah seized more than 3 tons of methamphetamine, ketamine and ecstasy in the largest such seizure for Sabah so far. Money laundering and other tools keep criminals in business The report outlines how cross border financial and technology networks are supporting what it calls a "criminal service infrastructure" that facilitates global organized crime. The tools used include cryptocurrency, encrypted and private communications platforms and generative AI to create convincing phishing content, deploy real-time deepfake videos and voice calls. Using AI-powered translations, they can target victims across many languages at the same time, the report says. Satellite communications also enable scam compounds to operate in places that are remote or subject to close surveillance. To counter this growing criminal ecosystem, authorities need a coordinated, cross-border strategy that integrates enforcement across data, communications and financial systems, and online services and marketplaces, the report said. Crackdowns drive scam centers offshore and underground As authorities in Thailand, China and elsewhere have raided industrial-sized scam centers mostly located in border regions of Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia, criminals have responded by shifting to other parts of the world or operating on a smaller scale. "They were destroyed, but none of the operations stopped," said Seong Jae Shin, an analyst and counter-terrorism office at the UNODC. Scam centers moved to villas and other properties, he said, going underground. "It's much harder for the Cambodian authorities to crack down now," he said.

Crime Gangs Snare More Than $88 Billion in Scams in Asia-Pacific, UN Says

Handwritten Chinese characters, including the words "confession letter", are carved onto a wall inside a basement room at a compound in O'Smach that the Thai military said was used for scam operations, at the Chong Chom-O'Smach border crossing, after clashes between Thailand and Cambodia in December 2025, in Samraong, Oddar Meanchey province, Cambodia, April 7, 2026. REUTERS/Chalinee Thirasupa To match Special Report CAMBODIA-SCAMS/ TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY BANGKOK, July 21 (Reuters) - Scam gangs defrauded Asia-Pacific residents ⁠of ⁠at least $88 billion in 2025, a ⁠United Nations office said on Tuesday, with transnational crime groups rapidly evolving tactics to stay ahead of law enforcement. Criminals in Southeast Asia, an epicentre for cyberfraud by mostly Chinese-origin syndicates, are outpacing crackdowns, diversifying revenue streams, exploiting corruption and harnessing artificial intelligence, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in a new report. The report estimated scam ⁠losses across ⁠East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand between $88.3 billion and $114.1 billion for 2025, a figure larger than the GDP of several of the nations in the region. Networks that once operated within specific territories or illicit trades are increasingly expanding across multiple illegal markets while using shared services, said Delphine Schantz, UNODC Regional Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific. "Their operating model looks like corporate franchising: imagine specialized departments for laundering money, trafficking ⁠people, smuggling ⁠migrants, and harvesting data, all ⁠plugged into the same, service-based interconnected network," she said. Scam centres in Southeast Asia run illegal online schemes that defraud people worldwide, generating billions of dollars ⁠of annual revenue. Many facilities are staffed by trafficked foreign nationals, confined in oppressive environments. People from at least 80 countries and territories have been identified in scam compounds across the region, with recruitment networks using transit hubs in Asia, the Middle East and Africa, according to UNODC. AGENTIC AI Scam operators are increasingly seeking recruits from outside Asia as they ⁠expand into new markets, UNODC said. Recruitment advertisements linked to the industry's communication channels have targeted ⁠people with German, Polish, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, French, Swedish, Norwegian and English language skills, it said. Recent pressure from law enforcement in the region has displaced but not dismantled operations, UNODC said, with gangs relocating from countries like Myanmar and Laos to East Timor, Pacific Island states, and parts of Africa. Syndicates engage in "jurisdiction shopping" to find places with weak governance and regulation, the report said, adding that corruption was the "primary enabler" of tech-driven organised crime in the region. Beyond using generative AI to create content, criminal groups are expected to adopt agentic AI systems to more autonomously identify victims, conduct social-engineering ⁠campaigns and facilitate cryptocurrency theft and laundering, the report said. The scam sector's rapid growth has fuelled an ecosystem of ancillary criminal services, including money laundering, underground banking and data trading, it said. "The scale and complexity of this expanding organised crime economy are outpacing existing responses, which were not structured to address such sophisticated criminal activity," said Inshik Sim, a lead analyst at UNODC. (Reporting by Poppy McPherson in Bangkok; Editing by Michael Perry)

Crime gangs snare more than $88 billion in scams in Asia-Pacific, UN says

BANGKOK, July 21 (Reuters) - Scam gangs defrauded Asia-Pacific residents of at least $88 billion in 2025, a United Nations office said on Tuesday, with transnational crime groups rapidly evolving tactics to stay ahead of law enforcement. Criminals in Southeast Asia, an epicentre for cyberfraud by mostly Chinese-origin syndicates, are outpacing crackdowns, diversifying revenue streams, exploiting corruption and harnessing artificial intelligence, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in a new report. The report estimated scam losses across East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand between $88.3 billion and $114.1 billion for 2025, a figure larger than the GDP of several of the nations in the region. Networks that once operated within specific territories or illicit trades are increasingly expanding across multiple illegal markets while using shared services, said Delphine Schantz, UNODC Regional Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific. "Their operating model looks like corporate franchising: imagine specialized departments for laundering money, trafficking people, smuggling migrants, and harvesting data, all plugged into the same, service-based interconnected network," she said. Scam centres in Southeast Asia run illegal online schemes that defraud people worldwide, generating billions of dollars of annual revenue. Many facilities are staffed by trafficked foreign nationals, confined in oppressive environments. People from at least 80 countries and territories have been identified in scam compounds across the region, with recruitment networks using transit hubs in Asia, the Middle East and Africa, according to UNODC. AGENTIC AI Scam operators are increasingly seeking recruits from outside Asia as they expand into new markets, UNODC said. Recruitment advertisements linked to the industry's communication channels have targeted people with German, Polish, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, French, Swedish, Norwegian and English language skills, it said. Recent pressure from law enforcement in the region has displaced but not dismantled operations, UNODC said, with gangs relocating from countries like Myanmar and Laos to East Timor, Pacific Island states, and parts of Africa. Syndicates engage in "jurisdiction shopping" to find places with weak governance and regulation, the report said, adding that corruption was the "primary enabler" of tech-driven organised crime in the region. Beyond using generative AI to create content, criminal groups are expected to adopt agentic AI systems to more autonomously identify victims, conduct social-engineering campaigns and facilitate cryptocurrency theft and laundering, the report said. The scam sector's rapid growth has fuelled an ecosystem of ancillary criminal services, including money laundering, underground banking and data trading, it said. "The scale and complexity of this expanding organised crime economy are outpacing existing responses, which were not structured to address such sophisticated criminal activity," said Inshik Sim, a lead analyst at UNODC. (Reporting by Poppy McPherson in Bangkok; Editing by Michael Perry)