Global Scam Industry Evolving at 'Unprecedented Scale' Despite Recent Crackdown

Online scam operations across Southeast Asia are rapidly adapting to recent crackdowns, adopting AI and expanding globally despite the release of 7,000 trafficking victims from compounds along the Myanmar-Thailand border, experts say. These releases represent just a fraction of an estimated 100,000 people trapped in facilities run by criminal syndicates that rake in billions through investment schemes and romance scams targeting victims worldwide, CNN reports.

'Billions of dollars are being invested in these kinds of businesses,' said Kannavee Suebsang, a Thai lawmaker leading efforts to free those held in scam centers. 'They will not stop.' Crime groups are exploiting AI to write scamming scripts and using deepfakes to create personas, while networks have expanded to Africa, South Asia, and the Pacific region, according to the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime. 'This is a situation the region has never faced before,' said John Wojcik, a UN organized crime analyst. 'The evolving situation is trending towards something far more dangerous than scams alone.'

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