The United Nations has exposed a disturbing trend involving Asian scam syndicates targeting unsuspecting victims, including Kenyans, to run their operations, which are fast gaining traction.
In the report titled “Inflection Point: Global Implications of Scam Centres, Underground Banking and Illicit Online Marketplaces in Southeast Asia”, the UN broke down how these cybercrime rings have switched tactics, effectively expanding their illicit trade to a global scale.
The cyberscam units, which were once concentrated only in Southeast Asian countries like Cambodia and Myanmar, are now spreading rapidly to other continents, including Africa, according to the report.
For unsuspecting Kenyans seeking jobs abroad, this expansion could potentially spell danger not only to their economic status but their livelihoods as well.
“This transformation has been marked by the proliferation of industrial-scale cyber-enabled fraud and scam centres, driven by sophisticated transnational syndicates and interconnected networks of money launderers, human traffickers, data brokers, and a growing number of other specialist service providers and facilitators,” the report stated.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) further says that cybercrime is no longer merely about small gangs in remote areas but a sophisticated global industry which features compounds housing tens of thousands of workers who are mostly trafficked.
Several Kenyans have fallen victim to this, with a report in March 2025 highlighting tens of Kenyans who were allegedly duped into flying to Myanmar, where, instead of landing promising jobs as expected, they were compelled to join a scamming syndicate run by a Chinese person.
The duped foreign nationals were subjected to torture until they agreed to be part of the scams. One Kenyan took his chances by attempting to escape, and it ultimately paid off as he somehow crossed the Thai-Myanmar border to seek help.
Among the scams victims are forced to partake in are romance scams, where victims are forced to use fake profiles for emotional manipulation to build online relationships and extract money from lonely individuals abroad.
The syndicate is also notorious for indulging in investment scams, where victims posing as financial advisors or crypto experts trick people into fake investments, consequently wiping out their savings.
Thirdly, there are online gambling cons where victims, including Kenyans, are forced to lure unsuspecting users into illegal betting sites specially designed to syphon money and personal data.
Despite efforts to crack down on illegal cross-border connections and raids on scammer compounds, these syndicates continue to thrive thanks to their financial muscle, according to the report.
It is estimated that hundreds of large-scale scam operations generate tens of billions in profits. In 2023, for example, countries in East and Southeast Asia collectively lost more than Ksh7.8 trillion (USD 38 billion) to cyber-enabled fraud.
