Last week, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) released its latest report on transnational scam networks, which found that victims from East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand had been defrauded of up to $114.1 billion in 2025.

The report draws on official data, case records, financial intelligence, and field research in describing an increasingly sophisticated criminal ecosystem dominated by Chinese-origin transnational organized crime groups.

It also covers the trafficking of physical goods and services, including wildlife, along with cyber-enabled fraud, criminal infrastructure, and platform-based financial settlements.

Ian Timberlake, a retired journalist who acts as a part-time adviser on anti-money laundering and financial crime, attended the launch of the 256-page UNODC report in Bangkok and the expert discussions that followed.

In the latest edition of the Beyond the Mekong podcast, he speaks with The Diplomat’s Luke Hunt about the spread of industrialized scamming and fraud across the region, from Sri Lanka to Timor-Leste.

AI is also playing a role in the scam economy, with deep fakes being deployed to defraud banks, financial institutions, and ordinary people, at a level that is challenging international law enforcement agencies and their governments.

Timberlake worked as a journalist for 39 years, initially in his native Canada, focusing mostly on crime and police reporting. He also spent 26 years as a correspondent and editor with the Agence France-Presse news agency in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Washington, D.C.

He is a member of the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists and the author of “The Bay Man from Bulawayo,” available on Rakuten Kobo.