UN: Southeast Asian scam networks caused $88–114B losses

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime published a threat assessment Tuesday reporting that once-fragmented crime syndicates across Southeast Asia have merged into a single, tech-driven criminal economy. The agency estimates losses from scam operations across East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand at $88.3 billion to $114.1 billion in 2025.

The report says transnational networks run large-scale scam compounds and share digital infrastructure. Groups sell specialist services to one another, including money laundering, fraud operations, data harvesting and recruitment for forced labor. Much of the revenue moves through cryptocurrency and on-chain transfers.

UNODC describes industrial-scale compounds where high-volume investment and romance scams-often called “pig butchering”—are run. Workers from at least 80 countries were identified inside such facilities, and recruiters are targeting people with European and North American language skills. The agency says on-chain laundering makes follow-the-money investigations harder.

Technology is reshaping operations. The report cites generative AI and deepfakes used to automate parts of social-engineering scams and notes a 42% year-on-year increase in malvertising in 2025, where legitimate ad networks are hijacked to spread malware. Satellite internet services have allowed some compounds to operate from remote locations while keeping global connectivity.

Delphine Schantz, UNODC regional representative for South-East Asia and the Pacific, likened the structure to a corporate franchise, with specialised units for laundering, trafficking and data theft that plug into the same service network. She warned regional law enforcement often lacks training to trace and seize crypto proceeds and said seizing assets is necessary because “disruption alone does not work.”

UNODC Executive Director Monica Juma described the networks as “flexible, persistent and adaptable” and appealed for international cooperation to dismantle them. Interpol has identified the compound networks as a global threat.

Law enforcement actions have produced seizures. U.S. prosecutors recently confiscated more than $25 million in cryptocurrency tied to investment and romance scams routed through the region. Human-rights monitors have documented a humanitarian crisis as workers abandon compounds in Cambodia after enforcement actions. The report also notes the arrest of an alleged Prince Group boss, Chen Zhi, who is detained pending extradition in a case connected to a large Bitcoin seizure.

Beyond fraud, the assessment flags other criminal markets. It identifies the Sulu and Celebes Seas-the maritime triangle between Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines-as an emerging smuggling corridor. The agency also warns that some operators are gamifying online gambling products to attract younger users to exploitative platforms.

UNODC recommends targeted capacity-building for police and prosecutors across the region, with a focus on cryptocurrency tracing and asset recovery. The agency calls for shifting resources toward investigations that follow financial flows on and off chains and for strengthening cross-border information sharing to prevent networks from resuming operations after local crackdowns.

The report notes the estimated losses for 2025 outstrip the gross domestic product of several countries in the region, reflecting the scale of the criminal economy.