By Poppy McPherson
Bangkok (Reuters) -Asic crime syndicates behind the Cyberscam industry of millions are expanding worldwide, including to South America and Africa, because raids in Southeast -Asia do not contain their activities, the United Nations said in a report on Monday.
Criminal networks that have been created in Southeast -Asia in recent years, in which vast connections have been opened tens of thousands of employees, much human trafficking and forced victims around the world, have evolved into an advanced global industry, said the United Nations office for drugs and crime (Unodc).
Even while Southeast Asian governments have intensified a performance, syndicates have moved inside and outside the region, the desk said, adding that a “potentially irreversible landing has taken place … make criminal groups free to choose, choose and move … if necessary”.
“It spreads like a cancer,” said John Wojcik, a regional analyst for UNODC. “Authorities treat it in one area, but the roots never disappear; they just migrate.”
Conservative estimates indicate that there are hundreds of large -scale scam farms around the world that generate dozens of billions of dollars in annual profit, the Unodc said. The agency called on countries to work together and intensify the efforts to disrupt the financing of the gangs.
“The regional cyber fraud industry … has surpassed other transnational crimes, since it is easily scalable and able to reach millions of potential victims online, without having to move illegal goods across borders or traffic across borders,” Wojcik said.
The United States alone reported more than $ 5.6 billion in losses in Cryptocurrency-swam in 2023, including more than $ 4 million in so-called pork bitching scam or romantic scams that is designed to extort money from often older and vulnerable people.
'Vervoation point'
In recent months, the authorities from China, where many of the gangs arise, have performed Thailand and Myanmar a harsh action against scam activities in lawless areas of the Thai-Myanmar border, with Thailand Snijkracht, Fuel and Internet supply to areas Housing Scam Compounds.
But syndicates have adjusted adapted, shifting activities between “the most remote, vulnerable and lower parts of Southeast -Asia”, especially in Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia, and beyond, exploitation of jurisdictions with weak government and high rates of corruption, the Unodc said.
Raids in parts of Cambodia, where industry is most visible “led to a considerable extension to more remote locations”, including the province of Koh Kong Koh Kong, as well as areas that borders Thailand and Vietnam, the UN agency said.
