Southeast Asia, the ‘ground zero’ for global scamming industry

UN Interviews

Southeast Asia has become the “ground zero” for the multi-billion-dollar global internet scamming industry according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Transnational criminal groups working across the region are targeting victims around the world from so-called scam farms which are operating clandestinely - often alongside legal businesses.

Many of the workers are coerced into scamming activities against their will and can be tortured if they do not meet targets for stealing money from victims.

Benedikt Hofmann, the UNODC Deputy Regional Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, visited a scam farm in the Philippines that was raided in March this year.

Daniel Dickinson caught up with him there and began by asking him to describe what he saw.