Southeast Asia, especially Cambodia and Myanmar, has emerged as a regional hub for crime syndicates running fake romance and cryptocurrency investment schemes in which scammers -- some willing, others trafficked -- often working in fortified compounds defraud internet users around the world.
Online scams, mostly from investment fraud, across the specified regions cost victims an estimated $88.3 billion to $114.1 billion last year, according to the new report from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
The combined losses far exceed the $18 billion-$37 billion estimated to have been lost in 2023, and reflect "the dramatic scaling of this criminal economy", it said.
Equipment seized from a scam center is gathered at the Phnom Penh Municipal Police headquarters on March 11, 2026. Photo by AFP
Global spread
