Africa targeted by Asia’s scam syndicates

Asian crime syndicates behind the multibillion-dollar cyberscam industry are expanding into regions including Africa as raids in Southeast Asia fail to contain their activities, the UN said in a report. The cybercrime groups are increasingly establishing operations in Africa, including in Zambia, Angola and Namibia, the report in TechCentral says. Criminal networks that emerged in Southeast Asia in recent years, opening sprawling compounds housing tens of thousands of workers, many trafficked and forced to scam victims around the world, have evolved into a sophisticated global industry, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in the report. It added that even as Southeast Asian governments have intensified a crackdown, syndicates have moved within and beyond the region, causing a ‘potentially irreversible spillover’ which may leave criminal groups free to pick, choose and move as needed. ‘It spreads like a cancer,’ said Benedikt Hofmann, UNODC acting regional representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific. ‘Authorities treat it in one area, but the roots never disappear; they simply migrate.’ Conservative estimates indicate there are hundreds of large-scale scam farms around the world generating tens of billions of dollars in annual profits, the UNODC said. Syndicates have not only targeted Africa where regulation and oversight can be less strict, they have expanded into South America, the UN agency said, seeking to enhance money laundering and underground banking partnerships with South American drug cartels.