The fraudster created an official-looking website that ranked high in search results as a result of smart SEO tactics. It looked legitimate, so I followed the instructions and paid the fee, only to realize later that I had been tricked.

Unfortunately, many have fallen victim to this type of fraud. From August 2022 to August 2023, scammers stole an estimated $1.02 trillion globally, a staggering increase from $55.3 billion in 2021, according to the Global Anti-Scam Alliance (GASA). This enormous surge highlights how pervasive scams have become and sadly, the majority of this stolen money is never recovered.

The 2023 Asia Scam Report by GASA and Gogolook, based on data from nearly 20,000 respondents across 11 Asian regions, underscores how normal scams have become. Over 60 percent of Asians face at least one scam attempt each week, making it a daily threat for many people.

In particular, Southeast Asia has become a major hot spot for online fraud, with organized crime syndicates driving much of the activity. It is estimated that these syndicates are responsible for around $64 billion in global losses each year.

These scams aren’t just a nuisance: Many involve life-altering consequences. In some instances, scam centers trick individuals into accepting fake overseas job offers, only to coerce them into working for fraudulent schemes. According to the United Nations, by August 2023, over 120,000 people in Myanmar and 100,000 in Cambodia had been forced to work in these scam centers under inhumane conditions.

One of the most common forms of fraud in Southeast Asia is authorized push payment (APP) fraud, where victims unknowingly authorize transfers to fraudsters. Because the victims willingly send the money, banks find it challenging to distinguish between legitimate and fraudulent transactions, making it incredibly difficult to recover the funds.