SINGAPORE, March 28 — Organised crime rings fuelling an "explosion" of human trafficking and cyber scam centres during the pandemic have expanded from Southeast Asia into a global network making up to US$3 trillion (RM14.19 trillion) annually.
International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) secretary-general Jurgen Stock said the organised crime groups, driven by online anonymity, inspired by new business models and accelerated by Covid-19, are now working at a scale that was unimaginable a decade ago.
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International Criminal Police Organisation's (Interpol) Secretary General Jurgen Stock speaks during a news conference in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, on November 21, 2018. — Picture by REUTERS[/caption]
"What began as a regional crime threat in Southeast Asia has become a global human trafficking crisis, with millions of victims, both in the cyber scam centres and as targets," he said during a briefing at the global police coordination body's Singapore office yesterday.
The new cyber-scam centres, often staffed by unwilling staff trafficked with the promise of legitimate jobs, had helped organised crime groups diversify their revenue from drug trafficking.
Drug trafficking businesses still contributed 40 per cent to 70 per cent of criminal groups' income.
"But we see groups clearly diversifying their criminal businesses using drug trafficking routes also for trafficking of human beings, trafficking of arms, intellectual property, stolen products, car theft," Stock said.
About US$2 trillion (RM9.46 trillion) to US$3 trillion in illicit proceeds are channelled through the global financial system annually, he said, adding that an organised crime group can make US$50 billion (RM236.5 billion) a year.
Last year, the United Nations said over 100,000 people had been trafficked into online scam centres in Cambodia. In November, Myanmar handed over thousands of fugitive Chinese telecom fraud suspects to China.
A Reuters investigation last year detailed the emergence in Thailand of one branch of such alleged cyber-crime and its financing.
Stock praised Singapore for its success in uncovering a money laundering case last year involving seized assets amounting to over SG$3 billion (RM10.53 billion).
— Reuters
