Illegal online gambling fuels Southeast Asia’s cybercrime surge, warns UN report
The United Nations has raised concerns about the rapid expansion of industrial-scale cybercrime networks across Southeast Asia, powered in part by illegal online gambling operations. In its latest study entitled “Inflection Point: Global Implications of Scam Centres, Underground Banking and Illicit Online Marketplaces in Southeast Asia,” the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) describes the sweeping transformation of the region’s criminal landscape.
The report warns that online gambling platforms are being exploited as key nodes in illicit financial networks, helping criminal groups launder billions while simultaneously driving human trafficking, digital fraud, and cyber-enabled scams with global reach.
Casinos, SEZs, and tech parks as criminal havens
According to the UNODC report, what has begun as small-time fraud gangs have morphed into sophisticated and highly mobile transnational enterprises. These groups increasingly operate under the veneer of legitimacy, embedding themselves within industrial parks, science and tech zones, Special Economic Zones (SEZs), hotels, and casinos. “This far-reaching parallel shift has fundamentally reshaped the regional threat landscape and criminal ecosystem,” the report said.
According to the UNODC, one notable shift occurred after Cambodia’s 2019 ban on online gambling, prompting many operators to temporarily shut down and relocate to neighbouring jurisdictions with looser regulations. SEZs and border territories, particularly in the Mekong region, now serve as hotspots for these criminal hubs.
Tech-powered crime: Blockchain, AI and fraud kits
The report details how criminal organisations have rapidly adopted emerging technologies to amplify their operations. Tools such as blockchain, cloud computing, generative AI, and machine learning have allowed these networks to not only scale up their activities but also to obscure the origins of illicit funds.
Illicit online marketplaces, including the notorious Huione Guarantee (now rebranded as Haowang), are central to this tech-enabled underworld. UNODC calls Haowang “one of the world’s largest illicit online marketplaces by users and transaction volume,” where users can access everything from scam scripts and phishing kits to malware and money laundering services.
Human trafficking and forced labour in scam compounds
Beneath the digital gloss lies a grim human toll. The report highlights a disturbing trend: the trafficking of people into cybercrime compounds where they are coerced into conducting scams under threat of violence. Initially dominated by mainland Chinese nationals, the report said these operations now exploit victims from over 50 countries, including those where gambling is banned or heavily restricted, such as Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia.
“Individuals are often lured with fake job offers,” the study states, “and are subsequently forced to work under exploitative and abusive conditions.”
A global web: From the Mekong to Africa and beyond
The influence of Southeast Asian scam syndicates now extends across continents. The report reveals growing operational links with countries in Africa, where major raids in Zambia, Angola, and Nigeria have uncovered cybercrime rings led by East and Southeast Asian nationals. South Asia has also emerged as both a recruitment ground and a target for these fraud networks.
One high-profile case cited by the report is Singapore’s billion-dollar money laundering scandal, where criminal proceeds were allegedly channelled through illegal online gambling operations in the Philippines and scam centres in Cambodia. The case demonstrates the international reach and complexity of these syndicates.
UNODC urges global action
In its final recommendations, the UNODC calls for robust international cooperation to dismantle what it terms a “self-sustaining criminal ecosystem.” The report urges countries to invest in greater awareness, policy reforms, and capacity building to prevent Southeast Asia from becoming the epicentre of global online organised crime.
“If left unchecked, these cybercrime syndicates will have unprecedented consequences for Southeast Asia that reverberate across the world,” the report warns.
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