The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has raised serious concerns over the global expansion of highly organized Asian crime syndicates operating massive cyberscam networks.

In a new report released Monday, the agency warns that despite ongoing crackdowns in Southeast Asia, these criminal networks are becoming more sophisticated, more mobile, and harder to contain, now spreading operations into Africa, South America, and Eastern Europe.

Originally rooted in countries like Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar, the syndicates have evolved from regional operations into a transnational cybercrime industry.

“These operations have become a sophisticated global industry.

It spreads like a cancer.

Authorities treat it in one area, but the roots never disappear, they simply migrate,” said John Wojcik, a regional analyst with the UNODC.

The report describes how the syndicates have built vast compounds that house tens of thousands of workers, many of them victims of human trafficking, forced to run online scams targeting global victims.

According to the UNODC, the syndicates now recruit from over 50 countries, including Nigeria, Brazil, Sri Lanka, and Uzbekistan.

Wojcik noted that the cyberfraud industry has outpaced other forms of transnational crime, largely because it’s scalable, profitable, and doesn’t rely on moving physical goods across borders.

“The regional cyberfraud industry… has outpaced other transnational crimes, given that it is easily scalable and able to reach millions of potential victims online, with no need to move or traffic illicit goods across borders,” he explained.

UNODC estimates the global network of “scam farms” now generates tens of billions of dollars annually, making it one of the world’s fastest-growing criminal enterprises.

In 2023 alone, the United States reported $5.6 billion in losses to crypto-related scams, including more than $4 million from so-called pig-butchering or romance scams targeting the elderly and emotionally vulnerable.

Despite aggressive crackdowns led by countries like China, Thailand, and Myanmar, including cutting off power and internet to known scam zones, many of the gangs have simply relocated.

The report says operations have shifted to “the most remote, vulnerable, and underprepared parts of Southeast Asia,” particularly in areas with weak governance and high levels of corruption.

In Cambodia, raids in major scam zones led to expansion into even more hidden locations such as the Koh Kong province and regions near the borders of Thailand and Vietnam.

Myanmar, still locked in civil conflict after the military coup four years ago, continues to serve as fertile ground for syndicate expansion.

The UNODC further revealed that these groups have begun forging alliances with South American drug cartels to enhance money laundering and underground banking operations.

Meanwhile, parts of Africa, including Zambia, Angola, and Namibia, have emerged as new hotspots for syndicate operations, alongside nations in Eastern Europe like Georgia.

Just last week, Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) confirmed the arrest of 792 suspects during a sting operation targeting crypto investment fraud and romance scams.

The agency reported that 148 of those arrested were Chinese nationals, allegedly serving as recruiters, along with 40 Filipinos, two Kazakhs, one Pakistani, and one Indonesian.

According to the EFCC, the foreign nationals were operating from a Lagos facility that resembled the headquarters of a legitimate financial institution.

There, they trained Nigerian collaborators in how to run online scams and used their identities to facilitate fraudulent transactions.

The UNODC is calling for stronger international cooperation, policy alignment, and targeted financial disruption to counter the cyberfraud surge.

Without coordinated global action, officials warn, these operations will continue to adapt and expand, further fueling a crisis of human exploitation and financial loss across the globe.