Across Asia-Pacific (APAC), cybercrime syndicates are increasingly employing decentralization strategies to evade detection and disruption, according to a new report by the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG), a regional inter-governmental body based in Australia. This comes in response to the intensified efforts of law enforcement and regulatory authorities to dismantle these large-scale criminal groups.

The AGP research, which involved polling public sector agencies and private sector entities and interviewing industry stakeholders, revealed that 35% of its member jurisdictions have encountered or been aware of instances of decentralization.

Specifically, members have observed the dissipation of scam centre compounds, particularly following law enforcement raids and dismantling of existing cyber scam hubs, and the relocation of their activities to areas where they may face reduced scrutiny. Historically, these cyber scam compounds have been concentrated in remote border areas and Special Economic Zones in the Mekong sub-region, particularly in Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos.

Some of these compounds have also dispersed into smaller operations, using hotel rooms, private residences, vacation rentals, or entire floors of commercial buildings across Asia and other areas of the world, obscuring their operational footprints and complicating investigative efforts.

Recent raids and arrests across Asia further highlight this trend. In July 2026, Malaysian police arrested 335 people in raids on two alleged international online scam syndicates operating out of Forest City in the southern state of Johor. Local media outlet the Star reported that these syndicates were suspected of being involved in various scams, including love scams, currency scams, cryptocurrency fraud and impersonating law firms, targeting victims in China, Indonesia, Japan, the US and Europe.

Source link