This in-depth report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) examines the alarming rise of cyber scam operations across Southeast Asia. These operations, often run from heavily guarded compounds in countries like Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and the Philippines, exploit tens of thousands of trafficked individuals to perpetrate online fraud on a global scale.
Key insights include:
- Two sets of victims: Victims are both the trafficked individuals forced to commit scams and the global targets of fraud, yet many others are affected as a result
- Poly-criminality: Cyber scams are intertwined with human trafficking, money laundering, corruption, and organized crime
- Enabling infrastructure: Scam operations rely on private sector services, technology, cryptocurrencies, energy and other services, in special economic zones
- Massive scale and impact: Estimated to generate tens of billions of dollars annually, these scams threaten regional stability, governance, rule of law, human rights, and global financial security
The report features detailed case studies and offers recommendations for responses by governments, civil society, and international actors, to disrupt these criminal ecosystems and protect victims.
This research report was produced by GI-TOC’s Observatory of Illicit Economies in Asia-Pacific in partnership with the Australian-funded ASEAN-Australia Counter Trafficking program and the Regional Support Office of the Bali Process on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and related Transnational Crime. The views expressed in this publication are the authors’ alone and are not the views of the Australian Government.