Illegal cyber activities accounted for around a third of all crimes recorded in some Asian countries, with scams the most widespread and financially damaging, according to a new Interpol report.
The global policing agency’s latest cyber threat cyber threat assessment cited the increasing dominance of online crimes compared to traditional illicit activity, describing the activities as “persistent, large-scale challenges affecting multiple jurisdictions” linked to the rapid adoption of digital infrastructure.
Of the 18 Interpol member states in Asia and South Pacific that responded to a survey, more than half reported that cybercrime made up 30% of all crimes recorded nationally. Around a third reported more than 10,000 cases of online scams using techniques such as phishing. Interpol did not publicly list the countries that responded to their survey, which was carried out between January 2024 and March 2025.
“The findings in this report highlight a rapidly evolving cyber threat landscape across Asia and the South Pacific, where cybercriminals are leveraging artificial intelligence, ransomware-as-a-service models and sophisticated social engineering techniques on an industrial scale,” Neal Jetton, who oversees the Cybercrime Directorate at Interpol in Singapore, said in a statement.
The report comes as governments across Asia are grappling with an explosion in online fraud fueled by sprawling scam networks that monitoring groups say increasingly operate across borders and generate tens of billions of dollars a year. Once concentrated in parts of Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, such operations have expanded and adapted in response to law-enforcement pressure, creating new challenges for authorities trying to disrupt them.
Interpol cited the expansion of scam call centers, saying they form part of a “global underground economy” where groups take advantage of lax enforcement and legal ambiguity, operating with little oversight. Scam tracking groups have warned that the traditional large scam compounds are splintering into smaller, more nimble operations as far afield as Africa, the South Pacific and parts of Europe and Latin America, helped also by the availability of AI tools. Authorities in Sri Lanka for example recently carried out raids on suspected scam centers there.
“Even mature economies, often thought to have stronger cyber defences, are increasingly being targeted due to exploitable regulatory gaps and higher potential financial gain,” the report said.
“AI is also transforming the landscape of digital fraud, driving the emergence of more elaborate and deceptive schemes,” Interpol said in the report. “Advanced scams increasingly involve AI-generated content such as manipulated audio, visuals, messages, and automated interactions that simulate legitimate communication across multiple platforms.”
Law enforcement agencies across the region face significant operational and technical challenges in combating cybercrime, according to Interpol. The survey found gaps in specialized forensic tools, limited access to targeted cybercrime training and insufficient technical capacity. Many developing countries and small island states face significant resource and capacity constraints.
Among the report’s other findings:
- The Asia and South Pacific region recorded more than 135,000 ransomware-related attacks in 2024, impacting real estate, manufacturing and financial services.
- Phishing remained prevalent, with 5.5 out of every 1,000 individuals in the region clicking on phishing links monthly. Cloud applications were the primary targets.
- Discussions about deep fakes, which are used to perpetuate impersonation scams, rose 600% on cybercriminal forums and Telegram channels popular among Southeast Asian gangs between February to June 2024.
- Distributed denial-of-service attacks rose 92% in 2024 with government websites primary targets, alongside financial institutions. System intrusions accounted for around 80% of all data breaches in 2024, with malware present in 83% of cases and ransomware in 51%.
The report said identity-based attacks are rising with traditional security measures like two-factor authentication “becoming inadequate due to password reuse, compromised credentials, and vulnerabilities in single sign-on systems.” A better option is adaptive verification, which authenticates users in real time based on their location, behavior and device integrity, according to Interpol.
Photograph: Inside an abandoned center authorities say was used for scam operations in Cambodia on March 12, 2026; photo credit: Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images
Topics Fraud