Scam losses in Asian regions up to $114bn in 2025: UN

Victims of transnational online scams across East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand lost up to $114.1 billion last year, with total financial damages at least tripling compared to 2023 levels, according to a report released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Southeast Asia, particularly Cambodia and Myanmar, has established itself as a regional hub for organised crime syndicates running fraudulent romance and cryptocurrency investment schemes. Operating frequently out of fortified compounds, scammers, comprising both willing participants and human-trafficking victims, defraud internet users worldwide.

Under mounting diplomatic pressure from countries including the United States, Britain, and China, regional authorities have initiated targeted crackdowns on the industry. Over the past year, several high-profile network bosses were extradited from Cambodia to China following sanctions imposed by Washington and London on firms and individuals associated with large-scale cyber-scams powered by forced labour.

The report highlights that online investment fraud accounted for the majority of the losses, which ranged between $88.3 billion and $114.1 billion across the specified regions. The figure represents a sharp escalation from the $18 billion to $37 billion estimated in 2023, underscoring what the United Nations described as a dramatic expansion of the criminal economy. Over the past two years, China, South Korea, and Taiwan recorded the highest financial losses in the region, each suffering damages amounting to billions of dollars.

The cyber-scam industry initially focused on targeting Chinese speakers before broadening its scope to victims globally. The UNODC noted that Southeast Asia’s broader criminal ecosystem, spanning illegal narcotics, human trafficking, illicit banking, and real estate investment, has evolved from fragmented local groups into an integrated, transnational, corporate-style network.

Delphine Schantz, regional representative for the UNODC, stated that criminal syndicates now operate across multiple illicit markets simultaneously. She noted that their operating structure closely resembles corporate franchising, utilising specialised departments for money laundering, human trafficking, migrant smuggling, and data harvesting connected through a single service-based network.