Credit: Outlever
Sophisticated criminal syndicates are hijacking the playbook of large-scale contact centers, using familiar tech to fuel a booming $40 billion fraud industry. As businesses turn to AI to optimize customer interactions, the same technology is increasingly being used for nefarious purposes—scaling scams faster than regulators can respond.
Global expansion: Once concentrated in Southeast Asian border regions, industrial-scale scam centers are now metastasizing across the globe, according to a stark new report from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Facing increased crackdowns in traditional hubs like Myanmar, Cambodia, and the Philippines, these transnational organized crime groups (OCGs) are strategically expanding into Africa, Latin America, the Pacific, and beyond, establishing new operational bases in areas often vulnerable due to weaker governance.
UNODC estimates these networks now generate annual profits just under $40 billion. "This reflects both a natural expansion as the industry grows... but also a hedging strategy against future risks," says Benedikt Hofmann, UNODC's acting regional representative.
The dark side of CX tech: The operational sophistication mirrors, in disturbing ways, advancements in the legitimate customer experience sector. The UNODC report highlights that these OCGs are early adopters of technologies like generative AI and deepfakes to make scams more convincing and scalable.
Speaking at a recent UNODC panel in Bangkok, Jennifer Soh from cybersecurity firm Group-IB, detailed the rise of "Android Malware Scams," where victims are tricked into installing apps that grant criminals remote device control, sometimes even using captured facial video to bypass banking security. This weaponization of familiar tech allows syndicates to operate with frightening efficiency, often outpacing the defensive capabilities of both victims and authorities.
Crime-as-a-service: These syndicates are evolving beyond direct scamming into diversified "criminal service providers," as described by UNODC officials during a 2024 briefing. They build and offer illicit infrastructure, including specialized money laundering networks that function like shadow financial institutions.
One example highlighted in reporting around the UNODC findings is Huione Guarantee (now Haowang18), an underground online marketplace reportedly boasting nearly a million users, offering stolen data, scam software, and transaction systems designed to evade detection. Online gambling platforms, often operating under a "white label" model, are also integral, providing turnkey solutions for laundering illicit funds at scale.
Human exploitation: The staggering scale of these operations relies on a horrific "staffing" model: the mass trafficking of hundreds of thousands of individuals. Lured by false job promises, victims are forced to work in secure compounds under brutal conditions, facing violence, torture, and debt bondage if they fail to meet scam quotas or try to leave, as documented by UNODC during visits to raided facilities and through victim testimonies. While large-scale rescues occur, such as the release of around 7,000 people from Myanmar compounds in February 2025 following joint Thai-Myanmar pressure, the UN estimates vast numbers remain trapped, forming the coerced workforce of this global illicit industry.