“The transnational organised crime threat landscape in Southeast Asia is evolving faster than in any previous point in history,” according to a report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Illegal cyber activity has ballooned since the pandemic with nations of the Mekong region — Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos — becoming a hotbed for crime syndicates to set up operations that carry out romance-investment schemes, crypto fraud, money laundering and illegal gambling.

With the industry proving highly lucrative, those groups are now integrating new service-based business models and technologies, the UN report said. They include the use of malware, generative AI, and deepfakes into their operations, while opening up new underground markets and cryptocurrency solutions for their money laundering needs.

“The sheer scale of proceeds being generated within the region’s booming illicit economy has required the professionalisation and innovation of money laundering activities, and transnational criminal groups in Southeast Asia have emerged as global market leaders,” the report said.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been trafficked into those countries by criminal enterprises and forced to work in so-called scam centres, with casinos, hotels and special economic zones among the property developments that have “become hubs for the booming illicit economy, adding to existing governance challenges in many of the region’s border areas”.

As a result, cyber frauds have continued to intensify, resulting in estimated financial losses of between US$18 billion and US$37 billion from scams targeting victims in East and Southeast Asia in 2023.

The report also cited Singapore’s S$3 billion (US$2.3 billion) money laundering case that marked the city-state’s first criminal actions against finance professionals. “While the case represents one of the biggest money laundering investigations in Singapore’s history, it may be the tip of the iceberg,” it said.

Uploaded by Liza Shireen Koshy