BANGKOK, Thailand: Scam gangs cheated people across the Asia-Pacific region out of at least US$88 billion in 2025, a United Nations office said on July 21. It added that these cross-border crime groups are quickly changing their methods to stay ahead of law enforcement.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in a new report that criminals in Southeast Asia, which has become a major center for cyber fraud run mostly by syndicates of Chinese origin, are staying ahead of crackdowns. The report said these groups are expanding their sources of income, taking advantage of corruption, and using artificial intelligence.

According to the report, total losses from scams across East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand were estimated to be between $88.3 billion and $114.1 billion in 2025. It noted that this amount is larger than the total economic output of several countries in the region.

Delphine Schantz, the UNODC Regional Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said that criminal networks that once worked in specific areas or illegal trades are now expanding into many different types of crime while sharing services.

She explained that their system works like corporate franchising, with different departments handling tasks such as money laundering, human trafficking, migrant smuggling and data collection, all connected through a shared service network.

Scam centers in Southeast Asia run illegal online schemes that trick people around the world and earn billions of dollars each year. Many of these centers are staffed by foreign workers who have been trafficked and are forced to work in harsh conditions.

The UNODC said that people from at least 80 countries and territories have been found in scam compounds across the region. It added that recruitment networks use travel hubs in Asia, the Middle East and Africa to bring people into these operations.

The report said scam operators are now looking for workers from outside Asia as they expand into new markets.

It added that recruitment advertisements linked to these networks have targeted people who speak languages such as German, Polish, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, French, Swedish, Norwegian and English.

The UNODC said that recent pressure from law enforcement has pushed these operations to move locations rather than shut down. It noted that gangs have shifted from countries such as Myanmar and Laos to places like East Timor, Pacific island nations and parts of Africa.

The report said these groups often choose locations with weak laws and poor enforcement, a practice known as jurisdiction shopping. It added that corruption is the main factor that allows this type of technology-driven organized crime to grow in the region.

The report also said that, beyond using generative artificial intelligence to create content, criminal groups are expected to start using more advanced AI systems. These systems could help them automatically identify victims, carry out social engineering scams and assist in stealing and laundering cryptocurrency.

It added that the fast growth of the scam industry has created a wider network of related criminal services, including money laundering, underground banking and the buying and selling of data.

Inshik Sim, a lead analyst at the UNODC, said the scale and complexity of this growing organized crime system are increasing faster than current responses. He explained that existing systems were not designed to deal with such advanced and organized criminal activity.