By AFP and Focus | 2025-04-28

Transnational crime networks operating multi-billion-dollar cyber scam centers are expanding beyond Southeast Asia. Driven by Chinese and Southeast Asian syndicates rapidly globalizing their operations, these networks now span continents, the United Nations (UN) cautioned in an April report.

These Chinese and Southeast Asian gangs reportedly generate tens of billions of dollars each year by targeting victims through investment, cryptocurrency, romance and other scams. Their operations rely on an army of workers, many of whom are trafficked and forced to work under abusive conditions in heavily guarded compounds.

The activity has largely taken place in Burma's lawless border regions and in "special economic zones" in Cambodia and Laos. Many of these scam compounds, including the infamous KK Park in Myawaddy, Burma, were originally launched as part of the China-Myanmar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), with support from both governments.

Officials promoted them as economic development zones, but criminal syndicates dominated by Chinese nationals soon took them over.

"We are seeing a global expansion of East and Southeast Asian organized crime groups," said Benedikt Hofmann, acting regional representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

The UNODC report warns that these predominantly Chinese-language networks, which once have grown to more than 970,000 users and thousands of interconnected vendors, are now expanding into South America, Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Pacific island nations.

This expansion is both a result of the industry seeking new opportunities and a strategic "hedging against future risks in Southeast Asia," said Hofmann.

Countries in East and Southeast Asia lost an estimated $37 billion to cyber fraud in 2023, according to the UNODC report. Much larger estimated losses have been reported globally.

The syndicates have recently expanded operations into Zambia, Angola, Namibia and Pacific island nations including Fiji, Palau, Tonga and Vanuatu.

China's role in the regional spread of these operations has drawn increasing scrutiny. While Chinese state media claimed in January that authorities had "completely dismantled" and arrested more than 53,000 suspects last year, many victims of forced labor remained trapped at the time.

Real momentum came only in January, when police rescued Chinese actor Wang Xing from one of the compounds after con artists had lured him with an offer to work on a movie. Prior to that, Beijing was slow to respond and deflected blame onto "Taiwanese gangs."

However, investigations uncovered direct links between several crime leaders and Chinese business and political circles, including Chinese BRI participants such as Chinese-Cambodian businessman She Zhijiang.

The delay in China's response reflects not only negligence but possible complicity, say critics.

"It spreads like a cancer," Hofmann stated. "Authorities treat it in one area' but the roots never disappear, they simply migrate."

This has created a regional "interconnected ecosystem, driven by sophisticated syndicates freely exploiting vulnerabilities, jeopardizing state sovereignty and distorting and corrupting policy-making processes and other government systems and institutions," Hofmann added.

Besides expanding their geographic footprint and victim base, the syndicates are also diversifying their methods of laundering money. The UN report highlights growing collaboration with other criminal organizations, including South American drug cartels, the Italian mafia and the Irish mob.

Laundering through crypto

Illicit cryptocurrency mining has become a key part of these operations. Unregulated and largely anonymous, it serves as an effective laundering tool.

In June 2023, authorities raided a crypto mining site in militia-controlled territory in Libya. The operation, equipped with high-powered computers and cooling units, led to the arrest of 50 Chinese nationals.

Despite recent crackdowns, the UN cautions that these networks are adapting rather than disappearing. Pressure from authorities in Southeast Asia has pushed operations outward, but syndicates continue to shift and regroup.

A major crackdown in Burma earlier this year, reportedly backed by China, led to the release of around 7,000 foreign workers.

On April 23, authorities announced the repatriation of 920 Chinese nationals suspected of working in scam centers.

The stepped-up response followed months of international pressure, underscoring China's earlier inaction in a crisis linked to zones it once helped promote.

Alongside the scam centers, the criminal ecosystem benefits from custom-built digital infrastructure. Operators have developed their own payment apps, encrypted messaging services and cryptocurrency networks to avoid detection on mainstream platforms.