Organized cybercrime syndicates are using artificial intelligence and deep fake technology to run sophisticated romance and investment scams that have generated an estimated 37 billion US dollar losses (approximately Sh4.8 trillion).
This is according to the latest INTERPOL Asia and South Pacific Cyber Threat Assessment Report 2025/2026 which identifies cyber-enabled “romance baiting” scams as one of the fastest-growing threats in the region, with criminal groups exploiting AI-generated identities, fake social media profiles, and manipulated videos to deceive victims into sending money.
“Cybercrime groups in Southeast Asia are using emerging technologies to conduct cyber-enabled ‘romance baiting’ scams, which are estimated to have generated up to USD 37 billion in losses,” the report states in part.
According to the report, “organized crime in Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos used deep fakes in ‘romance baiting’ scams, blending AI personas and social engineering to fuel billion lost in regional cybercrime activities.
The report also highlights the growing role of artificial intelligence in cybercrime, noting that discussions on deep fake technology among cybercriminals surged by 600 per cent between February and June 2024 as criminals are increasingly using AI-generated videos, voice clones, and fake identities to impersonate business executives, celebrities, and public figures.
INTERPOL further revealed that ransomware attacks exceeded 135,000 incidents across the Asia and South Pacific region in 2024, disrupting critical sectors such as finance, manufacturing, and public services.
One major attack on Indonesia’s National Data Centre disrupted more than 280 essential government services, including immigration and airport operations.
Phishing attacks also remain widespread, with the report indicating that 5.5 out of every 1,000 people in the region click on phishing links each month, exposing themselves to financial fraud and identity theft.
The international police agency warned that cybercriminals are increasingly leveraging cutting-edge technologies, including ransomware-as-a-service, cryptocurrency laundering, and AI-powered scams, making cybercrime more organized, adaptive, and difficult to detect even as they called for stronger collaboration between governments, law enforcement agencies, and the private sector, warning that cybercrime is no longer an isolated digital threat but a large-scale criminal enterprise with significant economic and human costs.
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The report comes even as Last month, the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) exposed how scam centres have become global, industrial-scale businesses, aiding criminals in stealing at least $1 trillion a year.
The report titled ‘A World of Deceit’, the scammers benefit from advanced technological tools, political protection and sophisticated money laundering techniques to steal $1 trillion a year, equivalent to almost one per cent of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“What emerges is a complex criminal industry that is evolving at pace, powered by high-tech tools, corrupt state actors and a multitude of workers in various states of exploitation. Only by addressing this system as a whole can the world hope to turn the tables on scammers,” said the report.
A few days before the report was released, Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi had told Parliament that over 751 Kenyans had been rescued in Myanmar alone between 2022 and 2026.
Of these, 615 have been repatriated, 39 are imprisoned for illegal entry and repeat cybercrime offences, while 97 remain in detention in Thailand awaiting deportation after crossing borders.
“The remaining are in the process of being repatriated as more others continue to leave the scam compounds,” he added.
Currently, at least 20 Kenyans are reported to be currently trapped in online scamming compounds operating near Myanmar’s border with Thailand, according to the Civil Society Network for Human Trafficking Victim Assistance (CSNHTV).
CSNHTV revealed that that other nationalities trapped include1,600 Chinese, some 200 Burmese, 20 Thais, as well as citizens from the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brazil, Russia, Uganda, Rwanda, and Zimbabwe.
On Monday, CSNHTV wrote to Thai police urging them to take action and assist the foreigners who it said are being held at four locations inside areas controlled by a Myanmar Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) militia.
