Asia-Pacific residents lost an estimated $88.3 billion to $114.1 billion to online scams in 2025, mostly from investment fraud, according to a UN report released in July 2026 [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. Losses in 2025 were at least triple the estimated $18 billion to $37 billion lost in 2023, showing rapid growth in the scale of online scam operations across East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand [2, 3, 4, 6].
The scam losses exceeded the gross domestic product of several Asia-Pacific countries [1, 7, 8, 9, 5]. Southeast Asia, especially Cambodia and Myanmar, serves as a hub for cybercrime syndicates, which are largely controlled by Chinese-origin groups [1, 2, 7, 4, 6, 9, 5]. According to Delphine Schantz, UNODC Regional Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, "Their operating model looks like corporate franchising: imagine specialized departments for laundering money, trafficking people, smuggling migrants, and harvesting data, all plugged into the same, service-based interconnected network" [1]. She explained that these groups have evolved from specialized local criminals to operators across multiple illicit markets simultaneously [4, 6].
Many scam operations confine trafficked foreign nationals under harsh conditions, with workers from at least 80 countries identified in scam compounds throughout the region [1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 5]. Criminal groups are recruiting beyond Asia, targeting multilingual candidates who speak German, Polish, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, French, Swedish, Norwegian, and English [1, 2, 8, 9, 5]. They also relocated parts of their operations from Myanmar and Laos to East Timor, Pacific Island nations, and Africa to evade law enforcement [1, 2, 7, 4, 9, 5].
Corruption remains a key enabler of these tech-driven crimes in the region [1, 7, 8, 9, 5]. Criminals are increasingly using artificial intelligence tools, including generative and agentic AI, to create scam content, automate victim targeting, and facilitate crypto theft and social engineering [1, 7, 8, 9, 5]. Scam syndicates have diversified their earnings by integrating illicit drug trade, human trafficking, illegal banking, and real estate investments into their networks [2, 10, 4, 6].
China, South Korea, and Taiwan reported the largest scam losses in the past two years, each losing billions of dollars [2, 3, 4, 6]. Several alleged scam bosses were extradited from Cambodia to China between 2025 and 2026 [2, 4, 6]. According to UNODC Senior Analyst Inshik Sim, "This expanding scale and complexity of organized crime far exceeds the capability of current law enforcement systems to respond effectively" [8].
Scam operators practice "jurisdiction shopping," deliberately targeting regions with weak governance and regulatory oversight to avoid prosecution [1, 7, 9, 5].
The UNODC report detailing these findings was made public on July 21, 2026 [1, 2, 3, 7]. Law enforcement and policymakers across the region are now seeking new approaches to counter the growing threat posed by organized online scam syndicates.
