Interpol officially recognizes the fraud center as a transnational threat as human trafficking, online fraud, and money laundering through crypto assets are spreading to more than 60 countries.
Interpol member countries adopted a key resolution at its General Assembly in Marrakech this week, marking an escalation in global efforts to combat the booming fraud industry. The organization claims these networks rely on human trafficking, online fraud and forced labor, and are harming victims across sixty countries.
The modus operandi of these criminal groups is particularly sophisticated. Often under the guise of high-paying foreign jobs, victims are taken into compounds where they are forced to carry out illegal activities such as voice phishing, romance scams, investment fraud and crypto-asset scams targeting users globally. Interpol said the groups use advanced technology to deceive victims and conceal their activities, with the highly adaptable nature of cross-border criminal networks.
Southeast Asia scam hub spreads globally
The scam hub model first gained international attention in Southeast Asia, where complexes in Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos became hotbeds for human trafficking and large-scale online fraud. Victims, mainly from the region, as well as China and India, began to emerge in January 2023. By May of that year, the model had spread to Russia, Colombia, coastal countries in East Africa and parts of the UK.
The criminal network’s links to cryptoassets were exposed in July 2023, when an online marketplace operated by the Huione Group in Phnom Penh was found to have processed more than $11 billion in transactions linked to the fraud center. By May of this year, the US Treasury Department had taken action to block the group after accusing it of more than $4 billion in money laundering.
Ari Redbord, a former US Treasury official and director of global policy at TRM Labs, Chia that pig-butchering flows today rely more on stablecoins, low-fee blockchains, and fast cross-chain swaps to Shard flows. TRM Labs noted the increased use of Chinese money laundering networks, over-the-counter brokers, and informal cash-out infrastructure.
But Redbord emphasizes that global coordination is the real change. As the US deploys its task force, its Asian and European partners are working more closely together. Coordinated asset tracing is not only possible but actually effective when jurisdictions cooperate.
