Bangladesh, April 22 -- In a chilling report released on April 21, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) revealed the alarming global expansion of East and Southeast Asian cyber scam syndicates. Once largely concentrated in lawless enclaves of Myanmar and the shadowy “special economic zones” of Cambodia and Laos, these crime networks are now proliferating across continents – targeting new victims, laundering illicit billions, and forging alliances with traditional organized crime.

The report paints a disturbing picture of how cybercrime, once a regional concern, has transformed into a transnational criminal empire. With Chinese and Southeast Asian gangs at the helm, these networks are exploiting advances ...