The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has warned about the ongoing global expansion of Southeast Asia's cyber fraud sector following continued failures to contain such operations, which have been fueled by one-stop-shop digital marketplaces providing cybercriminal services, reports The Record, a news site by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future.
Mounting law enforcement takedowns of cyber scam compounds in Laos, Myanmar, and the Philippines have not prevented the diversification of illicit activities, with Asian cybercriminal gangs already forging collaborations with drug trafficking cartels in South America, as well as establishing new scam hubs across Africa, according to the UNODC report. "That [expansion] is going to have big global implications in that not only are you going to see scam centers and those types of operations developing in these regions but it will also be jet fuel for local criminal groups who need to launder their money," said UNODC regional analyst John Wojcik.
Mounting law enforcement takedowns of cyber scam compounds in Laos, Myanmar, and the Philippines have not prevented the diversification of illicit activities, with Asian cybercriminal gangs already forging collaborations with drug trafficking cartels in South America, as well as establishing new scam hubs across Africa, according to the UNODC report. "That [expansion] is going to have big global implications in that not only are you going to see scam centers and those types of operations developing in these regions but it will also be jet fuel for local criminal groups who need to launder their money," said UNODC regional analyst John Wojcik.
