UN Report Reveals Scale of Southeast Asia’s Interconnected Criminal Economy

A criminal economy built across borders

Southeast Asia’s organized crime networks have been reshaped into a connected, technology driven economy that joins scams, human trafficking, drug sales, illegal gambling, data theft and money laundering, according to a United Nations report released on July 21, 2026.

The report, titled An Interconnected Criminal Ecosystem: Transnational Organized Crime Threat Assessment for Southeast Asia 2026, says criminal groups that once focused on a single territory or illegal trade are now sharing financial systems, recruitment channels, digital tools and logistics. This structure allows one group to provide services to another without needing to control every part of a criminal operation.

The change has made the region’s criminal networks more flexible and harder to dismantle. A scam operation, for example, may rely on one network for stolen personal data, another for online payments, another for cryptocurrency transfers and another for the recruitment or trafficking of workers. The same financial and technical systems can also support drug trafficking, illegal gambling and migrant smuggling.

Delphine Schantz, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime regional representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, described the structure during the report launch.

"What we are seeing is a shift in which groups that stayed within their own geographic domain and criminal specialty are now operating across multiple illicit markets at once, relying on the same service streams."

She compared the model to corporate franchising, with specialized units handling activities such as laundering money, trafficking people, smuggling migrants and collecting data while remaining connected to a shared criminal network.

Scams produce losses on a national scale

Scam offences caused estimated losses of between $88.3 billion and $114.1 billion across East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand in 2025, the report says. Even the lower estimate exceeds the annual economic output of several countries in the region.

The figure marks a sharp increase from the estimated $18 billion to $37 billion in losses recorded for 2023. The rise reflects both the expansion of scam operations and improved efforts to measure losses, although the UNODC warned that many victims do not report fraud because of shame, uncertainty or a lack of confidence in authorities.

Investment fraud, romance scams, payment redirection and impersonation attacks are among the methods used to target victims. Criminals increasingly use stolen data, convincing fake websites, encrypted communications and cryptocurrency payment channels to move funds quickly across jurisdictions.

Artificial intelligence is adding another layer of risk. Generative AI can produce convincing messages in several languages, while deepfake video and voice tools can imitate company executives, relatives or public officials. The report also warns that criminal groups may adopt agentic AI systems that can identify targets, conduct social engineering and assist with cryptocurrency theft with limited human direction.

Another technique, known as malvertising, places malicious software inside legitimate advertising networks. The UNODC said incidents linked to this method rose 42 percent year on year in 2025. Such attacks can reach large numbers of users without requiring criminals to contact each person directly.

Trafficked workers forced to run scam operations

The expansion of digital fraud has created a severe human cost. People from at least 80 countries and territories have been identified in scam compounds across Southeast Asia. Many were recruited through advertisements promising jobs in customer service, technology or online sales, then transported through transit points in Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

Once inside some compounds, victims have been confined, threatened or subjected to violence while being forced to deceive people online. Recruitment efforts are widening beyond Asia, with advertisements seeking speakers of German, Polish, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, French, Swedish, Norwegian and English.

Pressure from authorities has disrupted some large facilities, especially in border areas of Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia. The report says these actions have often displaced operations instead of ending them. Criminal groups have moved into smaller buildings, private homes and other countries, including Timor Leste, Pacific island states and parts of Africa.

UNODC analysts describe this practice as jurisdiction shopping. Groups seek locations where regulation is weak, corruption is common or agencies have limited resources. A major compound may disappear after a raid, while its recruitment channels, payment systems, software and management teams continue operating elsewhere.

Inshik Sim, a UNODC lead analyst, said the scale of the networks has moved beyond the design of many existing enforcement systems.

"The scale and complexity of this expanding organized crime economy are outpacing existing responses, which were not structured to address such sophisticated criminal activity."

Drugs and maritime routes remain major sources of revenue

Digital scams are growing rapidly, yet traditional trafficking markets remain central to the region’s criminal economy. The Golden Triangle, where Myanmar, Laos and Thailand meet, continues to be a major production center for methamphetamine and other drugs.

The methamphetamine market is estimated to be worth as much as $74.8 billion at retail level, about 20 percent higher than the estimate in the UNODC’s 2019 assessment. The regional ketamine market is valued at between $2.7 billion and $7.2 billion, while heroin is estimated at between $24.1 billion and $27.7 billion.

Together, the annual retail value of the methamphetamine, ketamine and heroin markets is estimated at between $75 billion and $109.7 billion. Trafficking routes extend beyond Asia, with evidence of drugs produced in Southeast Asia reaching Africa, Europe and South Asia.

The report also draws attention to the Sulu and Celebes seas, a maritime area linking Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. Its heavy legitimate shipping traffic gives criminal groups opportunities to conceal illegal cargo among normal commercial shipments.

The area is used to move drugs, firearms, wildlife and equipment that supports scam operations. Satellite communications equipment, including low earth orbit satellite systems, can help criminal facilities operate in remote areas or locations under close surveillance. The same sea routes can also support the movement of people and other illicit goods.

Illegal gambling connects crime markets

Illegal online gambling has become a major source of revenue and a financial tool for criminal networks. The report estimates global illegal betting turnover at between $340 billion and $1.7 trillion each year, with much of the supporting infrastructure based in Southeast Asia.

Gambling platforms can process deposits, disguise the movement of criminal funds and direct users toward other illegal services. Their payment systems may be connected to underground banking networks, fraudulent accounts and cryptocurrency exchanges. This makes gambling more than a separate criminal market. It can serve as a financial channel for scams, trafficking and money laundering.

Young people face particular risks. Illegal operators use social media advertising, influencers, referral networks and mobile game design to attract users with small bets and promises of quick wealth. Features such as rewards, rankings and social competition can make gambling resemble entertainment and encourage repeated play.

Debt can then push some users toward illegal lending, theft, fraud or work as money mules. Criminal groups may exploit people who are financially vulnerable or already involved in the justice system, using their debts and limited employment options to recruit them into wider operations.

Delphine Schantz warned that the boundary between online gaming and gambling is becoming less distinct.

"While online gaming initially refers to interactive digital play without mandatory monetary stakes, the two sectors have converged through design features that deliberately exploit this ambiguity, making the crime more dangerous."

The report says fragmented national rules have allowed operators to move platforms and payment systems across borders. Blocking one brand or website often has little effect when hundreds of apparently separate services share the same underlying technology.

Corruption and financial secrecy help networks survive

Technology alone does not explain the growth of organized crime. The UNODC identifies corruption as a primary enabler, allowing criminal groups to obtain protection, operate compounds, move goods and access formal financial systems.

Criminal profits are circulated through shell companies, casinos, informal money transfer networks, bank accounts controlled by intermediaries and digital assets. Cryptocurrency can move money quickly, although investigators often lack the specialist skills needed to trace, freeze and recover it.

Financial institutions also face growing exposure. Fraud losses have risen much faster than the capacity of the Asia Pacific cyber insurance market. The scale of reported losses means that victims, banks, technology companies, telecommunications providers and insurers may all face competing questions about who should prevent fraud and who should reimburse those affected.

Several countries are beginning to place greater responsibility on private companies. Australia has introduced anti scam duties for banks, telecommunications providers and digital platforms, with proposed rules covering reimbursement and shared liability. Singapore has updated anti money laundering guidance for insurers and strengthened reporting requirements.

These measures can reduce losses, yet national action cannot match networks that move data, staff and payment channels across several countries. Investigators need access to timely financial intelligence, shared databases and evidence that can be used in courts across jurisdictions.

Why traditional raids have limited effect

Large raids can rescue trafficking victims, seize equipment and disrupt a criminal site. The UN report warns that disruption by itself does not remove the business systems that make the operation possible.

When a compound is closed, managers may retain access to stolen data, digital platforms, cryptocurrency wallets and recruiters. Workers may be moved to another site, while the technical team continues to operate from a different country. Smaller facilities are harder to locate and can be more difficult to connect to a wider criminal organization.

That pattern creates a gap between visible enforcement and the hidden infrastructure supporting crime. Authorities may seize buildings while failing to identify the people controlling the money, software, recruitment and data supply chains.

Schantz said a response focused only on shutting down individual sites would not be sufficient.

"A counter organized crime strategy focused on disruption alone does not work. We have to address all the drivers, including prevention and following the money."

Following the money means investigating financial flows alongside the underlying offence. It can include tracing cryptocurrency, identifying beneficial owners of companies, examining casino payments, freezing assets and pursuing confiscation orders. Removing profits can make it harder for networks to recruit workers, bribe officials and rebuild after an enforcement action.

What the UN recommends

The UNODC calls for governments to update and harmonize laws so that criminal groups cannot exploit major differences between national systems. It also urges agencies to share intelligence earlier and conduct investigations that focus on networks rather than isolated offenders.

The report’s recommendations include:

• Expanding intelligence led investigations that identify networks before they expand.
• Strengthening financial investigations and the recovery of criminal proceeds.
• Improving cooperation between police, customs, financial intelligence units and technology regulators.
• Addressing corruption and locations that provide safe operating conditions.
• Building stronger responses to artificial intelligence, deepfakes, encrypted services and cryptocurrency crime.
• Protecting trafficking victims and providing rescue, legal support, health care and safe return options.
• Improving safeguards for children and young people exposed to illegal gambling, exploitation and online abuse.

The agency also supports a human centered response. People forced to conduct scams should be treated as victims when evidence shows coercion, rather than being prosecuted automatically as willing participants. That distinction matters because trafficked workers may have been threatened, confined or deprived of their identity documents.

Regional cooperation will be tested by the networks’ ability to move faster than formal institutions. Existing agreements, including the ASEAN Convention Against Trafficking in Persons, provide a legal basis for cooperation, yet authorities still need compatible procedures, shared evidence standards and resources for sustained investigations.

The wider security and development cost

The report presents organized crime as a threat that reaches beyond police and courts. Scam losses reduce household savings, weaken trust in digital payments and impose costs on businesses and financial institutions. Trafficking harms migrants and workers, while corruption can weaken public services and discourage legitimate investment.

Drug profits provide cash for further expansion, while illegal gambling and underground finance create channels that link online fraud to physical crime. Children can be drawn into gambling, exploitation or criminal recruitment through the same social platforms and mobile services they use for ordinary communication and entertainment.

The geographic spread of these networks also means that victims and facilitators may be separated by thousands of miles. A person recruited in Africa may be held in a Southeast Asian compound, ordered to target victims in Europe and paid through accounts connected to another jurisdiction. This structure makes national investigations slow and gives criminal managers more opportunities to hide.

UNODC’s assessment shows why the region’s criminal economy cannot be measured only by drug seizures or police raids. Its strength comes from shared services, adaptable technology, access to global markets and the ability to exploit gaps between governments and private companies.

Key Points

• Scams caused estimated losses of $88.3 billion to $114.1 billion across four Asia Pacific markets in 2025.
• People from at least 80 countries and territories have been identified in scam compounds in Southeast Asia.
• Criminal groups are sharing services for fraud, trafficking, gambling, data theft, drug sales and money laundering.
• The regional methamphetamine market may be worth as much as $74.8 billion at retail level.
• Illegal online gambling generates an estimated global turnover of $340 billion to $1.7 trillion each year.
• The UNODC recommends stronger financial investigations, shared intelligence, updated laws and protection for victims.