UN warns Southeast Asian crime syndicates have evolved into global criminal networks
Organized crime groups in Southeast Asia now operate across multiple illicit markets using shared financial and operational infrastructure, according to a new report the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) released Tuesday.
The findings detail how syndicates that once confined their operations to particular territories or types of crime now work across cyber-enabled fraud, human trafficking, migrant smuggling, drug trafficking, illegal gambling and money laundering, the report said.
“Their operating model looks like corporate franchising,” said Delphine Schantz, UNODC’s regional representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Services used to launder money, traffic people, smuggle migrants and harvest data are now offered through the same criminal networks, she explained.
UNODC estimated that scams caused between $88.3 billion and $114.1 billion in losses across East and Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand in 2025. Criminal groups are moving from trafficking goods to providing services such as digital fraud infrastructure and platform-based financial settlements, which leave fewer traces and are harder to seize or attribute.
The scam industry has also fueled human trafficking for forced criminality. People from at least 80 countries and territories have been identified in scam compounds in the region, while recruitment networks operate through transit hubs in Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
The document notes that advertisements linked to the industry have targeted people with German, Polish, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, French, Swedish, Norwegian and English language skills, indicating efforts to recruit workers from Europe and North America, according to the report.
The agency also valued Southeast Asia’s methamphetamine, ketamine and heroin markets at between $75 billion and $109.7 billion annually. Drugs from the region are increasingly trafficked to Africa, Europe and South Asia.
Additionally, the report highlights the Sulu and Celebes Seas, between Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, as an increasingly important route for smugglers. Heavy maritime traffic allows criminal groups to conceal illicit cargo among legitimate trade, including satellite equipment used by scam operations.
Beyond narcotics and scams, the report examines illegal online gambling, online child sexual exploitation, tobacco crime and firearms trafficking. UNODC documented criminals’ use of generative artificial intelligence, deepfakes and automated fraud. Incidents involving “malvertising”—the use of legitimate advertising networks to distribute malware—rose by 42 percent in 2025.
In April 2025, UNODC warned that cyber-scam centers in Southeast Asia were supported by networks of money launderers, human traffickers and data brokers. The agency had previously identified casinos and cryptocurrencies as major drivers of underground banking in the region.
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