Interpol warns online fraud linked to Southeast Asian scam syndicates costs world US$442 billion a year

SOUTHEAST ASIA: Online financial fraud and romance scams linked to organised crime networks operating out of Southeast Asia have grown into a global-scale threat costing the world an estimated US$442 billion (S$564 billion) annually, Interpol has warned, as Cambodia and Myanmar move to dismantle illicit scam operations embedded within their borders.

According to New Straits Times (NST), Interpol’s Director of Taskforce Coordination Directorate Nicholas Court told Bernama on the sidelines of the International Conference on Combating Online Scams in Phnom Penh that the scale and human cost of the fraud had reached a level where many governments now classify it as a national security threat.

“Every day, losses could be hundreds of thousands or even millions of euros at any point, and Asian businesses are definitely victims. A lot of countries see it as a national security threat because the amount of money that is leaving economies and countries and going into the pockets of criminals is vast,” Court said, as quoted by NST.

“People are committing suicide somewhere in the world every day as a result of being the victim of fraud, and businesses are closing down all the time.”

The scale of the problem

The second edition of Interpol’s Global Financial Fraud Threat Assessment, released in March, estimated that financial fraud caused worldwide losses of approximately US$442 billion last year alone. What began as regional scam operations has transformed into global-level criminal networks, with centres discovered across multiple regions hiring thousands of young people to perpetrate online fraud.

Well-financed criminal organisations have used several Southeast Asian countries, including Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar, as bases to launch operations against vulnerable individuals and businesses across the globe.

Additionally, the Court also said that investment fraud involving cryptocurrencies has become increasingly prevalent.

Interpol’s Operation Haechi, conducted from April to August last year, uncovered US$342 million in illicit funds and blocked 68,000 bank accounts across 40 countries. The operation targeted cyber-enabled financial crimes including voice phishing, romance scams, online sextortion, investment fraud, money laundering linked to illegal online gambling, business email compromise, and e-commerce fraud.

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