East Asia's Scam Empire: $114 Billion in Damages, Cryptocurrencies as the Circulatory System, and Crime Franchising
The scale of the organized scam industry in East and Southeast Asia, as well as Australia and New Zealand, has reached astronomical levels. In 2025, the total damage from fraudulent network operations is estimated to range between $88.3 billion and $114.1 billion. These figures are the result of an analysis that accounts for both officially recorded losses and latent crime, where victims do not report to authorities. The methodology is inevitably approximate due to differences in national classifications, but the trend is clear: for comparison, in 2023, losses in the same subregions amounted to only $18–37 billion. An approximately threefold increase is not just a statistic but a signal of a structural transformation in the criminal economy.
Among the leading countries in recorded losses for 2024–2025 are China ($5.1 billion), the Republic of Korea ($3.5 billion), and Taiwan ($2.8 billion). However, these figures are merely the tip of the iceberg. The real picture is much deeper and more complex.
Criminal Franchising: A New Model of Organized Networks
What is happening can be characterized as a complete restructuring of the regional criminal economy. Disparate syndicates have consolidated into a cross-border network with a unified infrastructure. This network covers not only fraud but also money laundering, human trafficking, illegal migrant smuggling, data collection, and a whole range of criminal services. Analysts compare this model to corporate franchising: imagine specialized "departments" for laundering, human trafficking, and data collection, all connected to a single interconnected service platform. The scale and complexity of this criminal economy have already outpaced existing countermeasures.
A key element of this system has become scam centers—isolated complexes where people are detained and forced to work, carrying out investment, romance, and other types of scams. These "fraud factories" are the physical embodiment of the new criminal model.
Cryptocurrencies: The Settlement Infrastructure of the Underworld
The role of cryptocurrencies in this ecosystem deserves special attention. Criminal groups systematically use digital assets, encrypted communications, AI, and satellite communications. However, the key tool has become the combination of USDT on the TRON blockchain. This combination has essentially created a parallel financial system, enabling almost instant, cheap, and pseudonymous cross-border transfers. Through P2P platforms, over-the-counter brokers, and underground banking networks, criminals convert fiat into stablecoins and back, effectively bypassing banking controls. Simply disrupting operations will not yield results if the networks' revenues remain out of reach. It is necessary to train law enforcement in tracking and confiscating crypto assets specifically.
Technology at the Service of Fraudsters: AI and Satellites
Generative AI and deepfakes have lowered the entry barrier for complex attacks. Small groups can now use AI translation, character generation, phishing, voice cloning, and real-time deepfake video. Additionally, a 42% year-over-year increase in the use of legitimate advertising networks to distribute malware was recorded in 2025. Satellite internet, including Starlink, gives attackers independence from local operators, allowing them to operate in the most remote areas.
Global Recruitment and Network Resilience
The geography of recruitment has extended far beyond Asia. Citizens of at least 80 countries have been identified in scam compounds. Advertisements allegedly linked to the centers require knowledge of German, Polish, Dutch, Spanish, and other European languages. This indicates an expansion of the coverage area and an increased risk for people worldwide. At the same time, forceful pressure on individual sites is ineffective: networks simply change jurisdictions, fragment operations, and recover through new nodes.
Expert Opinion: The market has encountered a fundamentally new level of cybercrime organization. The merger of traditional criminal structures with DeFi technologies and stablecoins has created a resilient ecosystem that cannot be defeated with targeted strikes. Global coordination among regulators and the implementation of advanced blockchain analytics at the level of entire jurisdictions are required; otherwise, we risk witnessing further exponential growth of these indicators.