The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) warned that Southeast Asia's once-fragmented crime syndicates have consolidated into a single, technology-driven criminal economy, generating an estimated $88.3 billion to $114.1 billion in victim losses across the wider region in 2025 alone.

In a report published Tuesday, UNODC described a "fundamental" restructuring of the region's underworld. Locally rooted syndicates that previously operated within a single territory and specialty have fused into a transnational network, with groups now selling services—money laundering, fraud, human trafficking, and data harvesting—to one another over shared infrastructure.

Delphine Schantz, UNODC Regional Representative for South-East Asia and the Pacific, likened the model to "corporate franchising," pointing to specialized departments for money laundering, human trafficking, and data harvesting that plug into the same service-based network.

Combined losses from scam offences across East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand reached the estimated $88.3 billion to $114.1 billion range in 2025—a figure that UNODC noted "outstrips the GDP of several countries in the region." Much of that money flows through cryptocurrency: the compounds run investment and romance scam operations, commonly known as "pig butchering," in which fraudsters cultivate trust with victims over weeks or months before directing them into fraudulent trading platforms. Proceeds are laundered on-chain, where pseudonymous, cross-jurisdictional transfers—often routed through decentralized exchanges and cross-chain bridges—complicate asset recovery and tracing.

UNODC warned that regional police still lack the training to trace funds in "the new crypto context." Schantz emphasized that seizing criminal proceeds has become essential because "disruption alone does not work."

Technology is rapidly reshaping the operational model of transnational organized crimes. Nowhere is this transformation more evident than in South-East Asia. The latest @UNODC threat assessment report shows that cyber scams, synthetic drug production, trafficking in persons,… pic.twitter.com/Jzg7ozFqSA

— Monica Juma (@Monica_Juma_) July 21, 2026

Rather than smuggling physical contraband, criminal groups increasingly sell cyber-enabled fraud, criminal infrastructure, and platform-based financial settlements that leave little trace and are difficult to attribute. The operations are sustained by forced labor on a global scale, with individuals from at least 80 countries identified inside scam compounds—many concentrated in border regions of Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos, including special economic zones that have served as operational hubs. The report added that scam networks are now attempting to widen their recruitment pool, with advertisements targeting individuals possessing European and North American language skills.

The report flagged generative AI, deepfakes, and near-automated fraud as growing threats, alongside "malvertising"—the hijacking of legitimate advertising networks to spread malware—which rose 42% year-on-year in 2025. Criminal operations have also been "decoupled" from local telecommunications infrastructure through satellite internet services such as Elon Musk's Starlink, enabling them to operate from remote locations.

Beyond scams, the report identified the Sulu and Celebes Seas—the maritime triangle between Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines—as an emerging smuggling corridor. It also warned that criminals are gamifying online gambling to attract younger users.

UNODC Executive Director Monica Juma described the networks as "flexible, persistent and adaptable," noting their ability to shift across borders and resume operations following law-enforcement crackdowns, which makes international cooperation essential to dismantling them.

Law enforcement agencies worldwide are escalating their response. U.S. prosecutors seized more than $25 million in crypto tied to investment and romance scams routed through the region, and Interpol has labeled the compound networks a global threat.

The human toll is also drawing attention. Amnesty International has documented a humanitarian crisis as workers flee Cambodia's scam compounds—the same country where alleged Prince Group boss Chen Zhi was arrested pending extradition to China, in a case that included one of the largest-ever Bitcoin seizures.

The full UNODC report is available here.