Bangkok (Thailand), 6 August 2024 – Industrial-scale cyberfraud operations are evolving against a backdrop of technological innovation and the increasing professionalization of transnational criminal networks across Southeast Asia, officials warn. The operations, run by transnational organized crime, are heavily linked to sophisticated underground banking and money laundering organizations that have proliferated throughout the region. In a meeting organized last week by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime in Bangkok, investigators and analysts from across East and Southeast Asia shared intelligence on how the situation is evolving and rapidly outpacing governments’ capacity to contain it.
It is the second time over the past year that UNODC has brought together investigators to find ways of disrupting powerful criminal networks.
“Organized crime groups are converging where they see vulnerabilities, and empowering the region’s investigators and analysts is central to UNODC’s strategy to disrupt these bad actors moving forward,” said Masood Karimipour, UNODC Regional Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific. “It is more critical than ever for governments to recognize the severity, scale and reach of this truly global threat, and to prioritize solutions that address the rapidly evolving criminal ecosystem in the region,” he added.
The two-day closed-door meeting brought together officials from Canada, Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, United States, and Viet Nam, as well as UNODC experts, to share operational outcomes, intelligence, and take stock of the shifting regional threat landscape.
Hundreds of so-called ‘scam centres’ have been identified by authorities across Southeast Asia in recent years. Thousands of people have been trafficked into the lucrative illicit industry for work, and many more have lost billions to sophisticated fraud schemes orchestrated by a growing number of criminal groups who have made the region their base of operations.
“There are several necessary preconditions to strengthen countermeasures against cross-border online fraud needed at the regional level,” said Ishii Keisuke, Counselor for the Commissioner General’s Secretariat in Charge of Measures Against Telecommunication Fraud and Organized Crime at the National Policy Agency of Japan. “We need to share information and intelligence, improve our ability to trace and recover crypto-assets and e-money, and foster a mutual understanding of the differences of our respective legal and criminal justice systems for swift and seamless investigative cooperation. UNODC, as a politically neutral institution, plays an important role as an intelligence hub among countries in the region, providing crucial analysis and a platform for intelligence exchange.”
In the Philippines alone, more than 400 of these criminal enterprises are presently estimated to be in operation, with many Philippines offshore online gambling operators (POGOs) found serving as fronts for transnational organized crime groups, leading to the recent ban of the sector under Presidential order.
Similar measures have been taken elsewhere in the region, including in Cambodia, Indonesia as well as Thailand where dismantling cyber-enabled fraud and illegal online casino operations has been declared a national priority.
As law enforcement and regulators step up their efforts, organized crime continues to diversify operations into more remote parts of the region, such as autonomous territories controlled by non-state armed groups and other criminal hubs in and around the Golden Triangle. Ongoing pressure is also likely to motivate criminal groups to further innovate and move deeper into more vulnerable parts of Southeast Asia.
“Cyber-enabled fraud perpetrated by powerful transnational criminal networks has evolved into a thriving multi-billion-dollar illicit industry that now exceeds the GDP of several countries in Southeast Asia combined,” said John Wojcik, UNODC Regional Analyst. “It’s clear that the regional threat landscape is shifting fast, with growing indication of deepfakes and malware being integrated into these operations alongside a direct convergence with illegal online gambling and the regional drug trade – but awareness is also improving,” Wojcik added. “Governments are realizing that this is not a situation they are going to be able to investigate or prosecute their way out of, and that the region cannot afford to let business continue as usual.”
The meeting of regional investigators and analysts has led to the formation of an informal network to expand cooperation and share operational outcomes and expedite intelligence exchange in the region. It represents a key component in UNODC’s regional response under the latest strategic plan to address transnational organized crime and trafficking in persons associated with casinos and cyber-enabled fraud operations in Southeast Asia. Other efforts include the establishment earlier this year of an emergency response network that is currently being led by UNODC.
UNODC continues to coordinate with regional authorities across East and Southeast Asia to intensify these and other efforts. Follow-up meetings and activities are scheduled to take place in the coming months alongside a major threat analysis informed by the regional meeting.
Click here to read UNODC’s Threat Analysis on casinos, money laundering, underground banking and transnational organized crime in East and Southeast Asia.
Click here to read UNODC’s Policy Report on casinos, cyber fraud, and trafficking in persons for forced criminality in Southeast Asia.
Click here to learn more about UNODC's Regional Programme.
Click here to learn more about UNODC's Regional Programme and work on cybercrime
Click here to learn more about UNODC’s work to address human trafficking in the region.
