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The global digital crime network is expanding, with Southeast Asia becoming a key hub for fraud.
The Global Impact of Southeast Asia's Scam Centers and Transnational Crime Networks
Recently, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) released a report that delves into the emerging forms of transnational organized crime in Southeast Asia. The report focuses on a new digital crime ecosystem centered around online fraud, integrating underground money laundering networks with illegal online market platforms.
The Evolution of the Criminal Ecosystem in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia is gradually becoming a key hub in the global criminal ecosystem. Criminal groups have established highly organized and industrialized crime networks by exploiting the region's weak governance, ease of cross-border collaboration, and technological vulnerabilities.
High liquidity and adaptability
Criminal organizations exhibit high liquidity and strong adaptability, able to quickly adjust their operational locations based on law enforcement pressure, political situations, or geopolitical conditions. They disguise themselves using physical venues such as casinos, border economic special zones, and resorts, while also "sinking" into more remote areas with weak law enforcement to evade concentrated crackdowns.
systematic fraud industry chain
Fraud organizations have established a "vertically integrated criminal industry chain" that spans data collection, fraud execution, and money laundering. The upstream relies on social media platforms to obtain global victim data; the midstream implements fraud through various means; and the downstream relies on underground banks, over-the-counter transactions, and stablecoin payments to complete fund laundering and cross-border transfers.
Human Trafficking and Labor Black Market
The expansion of the scam industry is accompanied by systemic human trafficking and forced labor. Personnel from scam parks come from multiple countries around the world, often lured into the country through false recruitment, suffering from violent control and even being sold multiple times. This "scam economy + modern slavery" model has become a human support method that runs throughout the entire industry chain.
Digitalization and Technological Evolution
Fraud groups continuously upgrade their counter-detection tactics, constructing a criminal ecosystem of "technical independence + information black box". They generally deploy infrastructures such as satellite communications, private power grids, and intranet systems, and extensively use technologies like encrypted communication, AI-generated content, and automated phishing scripts. Some organizations have also launched "scam-as-a-service" platforms to provide technical support to other gangs.
Global Expansion Trends
Southeast Asian crime syndicates have expanded globally, establishing new operational bases in other parts of Asia, Africa, South America, the Middle East, and even Europe.
Asia
Africa
South America
Middle East
Europe
Emerging Illegal Online Markets and Money Laundering Services
Telegram dark web
Criminals use the Telegram platform to establish illegal online markets, offering services such as stolen data, hacking tools, and malware. These platforms are often linked to cryptocurrency exchanges controlled by the same organization.
Fully Light Guarantee
As a prototype platform for early illegal markets in Southeast Asia, it attracted over 350,000 users. The platform served as a trading market for human trafficking, intermediary recruitment, informal cross-border money laundering, and "black industry" technical support.
Huione Guarantee
has become one of the largest illegal online trading markets in the world in terms of users and trading volume. The platform has processed hundreds of billions of dollars in cryptocurrency transactions, becoming a one-stop service center for criminals to obtain various types of criminal resources.
Transnational Criminal Networks and Global Law Enforcement Challenges
Some transnational criminal organizations use complex business structures to conceal illegal activities, particularly in the areas of money laundering and online fraud. They significantly increase the difficulty of transnational financial regulation and criminal investigation tracing through multiple nationalities, cryptocurrency operations, and intricate cross-border financial networks.
To address these challenges, it is necessary to:
Conclusion and Recommendations
Only through comprehensive and multi-level international cooperation can we effectively address the increasingly complex issues of global cybercrime and safeguard the security of the global financial system and social stability.