Organized crime networks which have fueled an “explosion” of human trafficking and online fraud hotspots throughout the pandemic have grown from Southeast Asia into a world network generating as much as $3 trillion a yr, the top of Interpol said on Wednesday.
“These organized crime groups, fueled by online anonymity, inspired by latest business models and accelerated by Covid, are actually operating on a scale that was unimaginable a decade ago,” Interpol Secretary-General Jurgen Stock said at a briefing on the Singapore office of the world police coordinating body.
“What began as a regional crime threat in Southeast Asia has evolved into a global human trafficking crisis that has claimed millions of victims, both in cybercrime centers and as targets.”
Stock said latest online fraud centers, which regularly staff reluctant staff who’ve been trafficked in exchange for the promise of legal work, have helped organized crime groups diversify their drug revenues.
“We Can Kill You Here”: Inside China’s Lawless Fraud Centers in Burma
“We Can Kill You Here”: Inside China’s Lawless Fraud Centers in Burma
He said drug trafficking enterprises still generate between 40 and 70 percent of criminal groups’ income.
“However, we see that groups are clearly diversifying their criminal activities, using drug smuggling routes also to traffic in people, weapons, intellectual property, stolen products and car theft,” Stock said.
He said that between $2 and $3 trillion in illicit income flows through the worldwide economic system annually, adding that an organized crime group could earn $50 billion a yr.
Last yr, the United Nations reported that greater than 100,000 people had been smuggled into online fraud centers in Cambodia.
In November, Myanmar handed over 1000’s of suspected telecommunications fraudsters to China. Last yr, a Reuters investigation detailed the emergence of 1 such alleged cybercrime outfit in Thailand and its financing.
