Southeast Asia-based fraud groups raked in $37 billion in 2023

Southeast Asia scammers will rake in up to $37 billion by 2023.

These groups are still stepping up their efforts despite increased law enforcement activity, Bloomberg News reported Monday (Oct. 7), citing a new United Nations (UN) report.

“The transnational organized crime threat landscape in Southeast Asia is evolving faster than ever before in history,” reads the report, compiled by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.

That evolution has led to an increase in cybercrime such as crypto fraud, romance scams and money laundering in the Mekong region, countries such as Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. The report says the success of these activities has led criminal groups to deploy ‘service-based’ business models and technologies such as malware and generative AI.

“The sheer volume of proceeds generated within the region’s thriving illicit economy has necessitated the professionalization and innovation of money laundering operations, and transnational criminal groups in Southeast Asia have emerged as global market leaders,” the report said.

The report adds that the groups’ victims go beyond just those being ripped off, with thousands of people being trafficked to work in “scam centers” while casinos, hotels and special economic zones among the real estate developments become “hubs of the booming illegal economy’. adding to existing governance problems in many of the region’s border areas.”

And so online fraud has only increased, with losses of between $18 billion and $37 billion for victims in East and Southeast Asia last year, the report said.

PYMNTS explored the rise of organized scam operations earlier this year in an interview with Featurespace Chief Operating Officer Tim Vanderham.

In a conversation with Karen Webster, CEO of PYMNTS, he noted that “when you think about the billions and billions of dollars coming out of scams worldwide,” the money made from ill-gotten gains has wiped out the revenues of some of the largest companies in the world. surpasses the world.

In the U.S. alone, the $2.7 billion in fraud reported just a few years ago represents only a small fraction of the actual total, Vanderham says. This is mainly because people feel ashamed when they report that they have fallen victim to unscrupulous scams.

“Meanwhile, crime syndicates use the stolen funds to finance other crimes such as human trafficking and drug trafficking,” PYMNTS wrote.