The Global Expansion of Southeast Asia's Cybercrime Ecosystem and Its Impact

In April 2025, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) released a report titled "The Global Impact of Southeast Asia's Scam Centers, Underground Money Laundering and Illegal Online Markets." The report provides an in-depth analysis of the emerging transnational organized crime patterns in Southeast Asia, focusing on a new type of digital crime ecosystem centered around online scam centers, which integrates underground money laundering networks with illegal online market platforms.

Shortly after the report was released, on May 5, 2025, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced sanctions against the Karen National Army (KNA) of Myanmar and its leaders, designating them as a significant transnational criminal organization involved in cyber fraud, human trafficking, and cross-border money laundering activities. The U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network also identified Huione Group as a primary money laundering concern, noting it as a key conduit for North Korean hacker organizations and Southeast Asian fraud groups to launder proceeds from virtual asset crimes.

The UNODC warns that this type of criminal pattern has high levels of systematization, specialization, and globalization characteristics, and relies on emerging technologies that continuously evolve, becoming a significant blind spot in international security governance. The report calls on governments to strengthen the regulation of virtual assets and illegal financial channels, promote on-chain intelligence sharing among law enforcement agencies, and build cross-border cooperation mechanisms to curb this rapidly developing global security risk.

Southeast Asia is gradually becoming the core of the criminal ecosystem

The Southeast Asian cybercrime industry is rapidly expanding, and the region is evolving into a key hub of the global criminal ecosystem. Criminal groups have established highly organized and industrialized networks by exploiting weak governance, facilitating cross-border collaboration, and taking advantage of technological vulnerabilities.

high liquidity and adaptability coexist

Southeast Asian cybercrime groups exhibit high mobility and strong adaptability, quickly adjusting their activity locations based on law enforcement pressure, political situations, or geopolitical conditions. Scam gangs frequently shift between Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, the Philippines, and Indonesia, forming a cyclical trend of "strike-move-backflow." The organizational structure is increasingly "cellular," with scam locations dispersed to residential buildings, guesthouses, and even within outsourcing companies, demonstrating strong survival resilience and redeployment capability.

Systematic evolution of the fraud industrial chain

Fraud organizations have established a "vertically integrated criminal industry chain" that encompasses data collection, fraud execution, and money laundering. The upstream relies on platforms like Telegram to obtain victim data globally; the midstream implements scams through methods such as "pig butchering," "fake law enforcement," and "investment inducement"; the downstream relies on underground banks, OTC transactions, and stablecoin payments to complete fund cleaning and cross-border transfers. In 2023, the economic losses caused by cryptocurrency fraud in the United States alone exceeded $5.6 billion, of which approximately $4.4 billion is attributed to the prevalent "pig butchering" scams in Southeast Asia.

Human Trafficking and Labor Black Market

The expansion of the scam industry is accompanied by systemic human trafficking and forced labor. The personnel in scam parks come from over 50 countries worldwide, particularly young people from China, Vietnam, India, and Africa, who are often deceived into entering the country through false recruitment, suffering from violent control and even being resold multiple times. At the beginning of 2025, more than a thousand foreign victims were repatriated from the Karen State in Myanmar. This "scam economy + modern slavery" model has become a human support method throughout the entire industry chain.

The evolution of digitalization and criminal technology ecosystems continues.

Fraud groups possess a strong technical adaptability and continuously upgrade their counter-surveillance measures. They commonly deploy Starlink satellite communications, private power grids, internal network systems, and other infrastructure to achieve "offline survival"; they heavily use encrypted communication, AI-generated content, and automated phishing scripts to enhance the efficiency and disguise of scams. Some organizations have also launched "Scam-as-a-Service"( platforms, providing technical templates and data support for other groups. This continuously evolving technology-driven model is significantly undermining the effectiveness of traditional law enforcement measures.

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Global Expansion Outside of Southeast Asia

Southeast Asian crime groups have expanded globally, establishing new operational bases in other parts of Asia, Africa, South America, the Middle East, and even Europe. This expansion has not only increased the difficulty of law enforcement but has also made crimes such as fraud and money laundering more international.

) Asia

• Taiwan, China: Becoming a research and development center for scam technologies, some criminal groups establish "white label" gambling software companies to provide technical support for Southeast Asian scam centers.
• Hong Kong and Macau, China: Underground money laundering hubs that assist in cross-border capital flow, with some casino intermediaries involved in money laundering.
• Japan: In 2024, online fraud losses are expected to increase by 50%, with some cases involving Southeast Asian scam centers.
• South Korea: Cryptocurrency scams surge as criminal groups use the Korean won stablecoin for money laundering.
• India: In 2025, the government rescued over 550 citizens who were trafficked to scam centers in Myanmar and Cambodia.
• Pakistan and Bangladesh: becoming sources of labor for scams, with some victims lured to Dubai and then sold to Southeast Asia.

Africa

• Nigeria: In 2024, a major fraud syndicate was dismantled, resulting in the arrest of 148 Chinese citizens and 40 Filipinos, involved in cryptocurrency fraud.
• Zambia: In April 2024, a fraud ring was dismantled, resulting in the arrest of 77 suspects, among which 22 Chinese fraud leaders were sentenced to a maximum of 11 years in prison.
• Angola: At the end of 2024, dozens of Chinese citizens were detained during a large-scale raid for suspected involvement in online gambling, fraud, and cybercrime.

South America

• Brazil: In 2025, the "Online Gambling Legalization Act" was passed, but criminal groups still use unregulated platforms for money laundering.
• Peru: The "Red Dragon Group" criminal gang from Taiwan has been dismantled, rescuing over 40 Malaysian workers.
• Mexico: Drug trafficking groups launder money through Asian underground banks, charging low commissions of 0%-6% to attract customers.

Middle East

• Dubai: Becoming a global money laundering center. The main suspect in the $3 billion money laundering case in Singapore purchased luxury homes in Dubai, using shell companies to transfer funds. Fraud groups set up "recruitment centers" in Dubai to lure laborers to Southeast Asia.
• Turkey: Some Chinese fraud leaders obtain Turkish passports through investment citizenship programs to evade international arrest.

Europe

• UK: London real estate has become a tool for money laundering, with some funds coming from Southeast Asian scam proceeds.
• Georgia: A "Little Southeast Asia" scam center has emerged in Batumi, where criminal groups use casinos and football clubs for money laundering.

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Emerging Illegal Online Markets and Money Laundering Services

As traditional criminal methods are being cracked down on, Southeast Asian crime groups are turning to more covert and efficient illegal online markets and money laundering services. These emerging platforms generally integrate cryptocurrency services, anonymous payment tools, and underground banking systems, providing various criminal entities with fraud toolkits, stolen data, AI deepfake software, etc., and achieving rapid fund movement through cryptocurrencies, underground banks, and Telegram black markets.

) Telegram black market

Criminals in Southeast Asia offer globalized services on various illegal online markets and forums based on Telegram. Compared to the dark web, Telegram's ease of access, mobile-first design, strong encryption features, instant communication capabilities, and automated operations make it easier for Southeast Asian criminals to carry out scams and scale up. These platforms have become the main venues for local criminals and service providers to gather, connect, and conduct business.

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( Fully Light Guarantee

Fully Light Guarantee, as an early prototype platform for the illegal market in Southeast Asia, was founded and operated by the Liu family, controlled by the Kokang Border Guard, in Shan State, Myanmar, attracting over 350,000 users at its peak. This platform not only serves as a fraud hub for the Kokang and Myaungmya regions but also acts as a trading market for human trafficking, recruitment by intermediaries, informal cross-border money laundering, and "black market" technical support.

Although the Kokang Border Army was overthrown in 2024, the region has seen the emergence of numerous new markets supported by other criminal groups, adopting a similar "guarantee system". These new platforms have rapidly absorbed the business resources that were impacted and are still continuously expanding and evolving.

) Huione Guarantee

Huione Guarantee has become one of the largest illegal online trading markets in the world in terms of users and trading volume, serving as a key infrastructure for the expansion of the online scam ecosystem in Southeast Asia. The platform is headquartered in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, primarily operates in Chinese, and has over 970,000 users, with thousands of interconnecting suppliers.

Since 2021, Huione Guarantee has processed hundreds of billions of dollars in cryptocurrency transactions, becoming a one-stop service center for criminals seeking resources for online scams, cybercrime, large-scale money laundering, and evading sanctions. Some experts estimate that the cryptocurrency wallets used by Huione Guarantee and its vendors have received inflows of at least $24 billion over the past four years.

Huione has also launched a series of its own cryptocurrency-related products, including a cryptocurrency exchange, an online gambling platform integrated with cryptocurrency, the Xone Chain blockchain network, and its self-issued USD-backed stablecoin. In February 2025, the group announced the launch of the Huione Visa card and revealed that it is heavily investing in other large illegal online markets, social media and messaging platforms, as well as professional money laundering services.

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Transnational Crime Networks and Global Law Enforcement Cooperation

In the Southeast Asian region, some transnational criminal organizations use complex business structures to conceal illegal activities, particularly in the fields of money laundering and cyber fraud. The billions of dollars money laundering case that erupted in Singapore in 2023 revealed a vast, cross-border, organized crime network that relies on multiple nationalities and operates with cryptocurrency assets. The suspects in this case acquired multiple passports through multi-country investment residency programs and extensively established companies, bank accounts, and high-value real estate in Southeast Asia and abroad to cover up telecom fraud and illegal networks.