Australia, Thailand pledge action amid Southeast Asia crime boom

Australia and Thailand have pledged to do more to tackle “the evolving threat of transnational crime”, as cyber bandits and human traffickers alike use new technologies to evade law enforcement and consolidate their activities.

Rates of scams, drug trading and people trafficking are exploding in the age of artificial intelligence and crypto currencies, with a UN report last month warning of a criminal boom in Southeast Asia.

That boom has been shaped by criminal groups armed with powerful digital tools and “operating across multiple illicit markets at once”, according to the UN’s regional crime envoy Delphine Schantz.

“Their operating model looks like corporate franchising: Imagine specialised departments for laundering money, trafficking people, smuggling migrants, and harvesting data all plugged into the same, service-based interconnected network,” she said.

Emerging from talks on Wednesday, Anthony Albanese and his Thai counterpart Anutin Charnvirakul “expressed grave concern over the growing sophistication and proliferation of online scam operations, including the use of emerging technologies to facilitate cybercrime, financial fraud, money laundering and trafficking in persons, undermining governance, economic resilience and regional security”.

“They agreed to strengthen co-operation among Australian and Thai law enforcement, customs, immigration and financial intelligence agencies to disrupt the criminal networks, financial flows and supply chains that enable cyber-enabled fraud and the trafficking of illicit commodities, including narcotics and illicit tobacco,” a joint statement said.

Thailand is a transit hub for criminals smuggling their goods due to its geography and relative openness.

The country’s north forms part of the infamous Golden Triangle, where Thailand, Myanmar and Laos meet, making it a major corridor for synthetic drugs.

Cyber gangs from abroad, including China, have also set up shop in the region, luring job seekers from across the world with fake high-paying job ads and then holding them captive in heavily fortified compounds, according to UN findings.

Victims are forced under threat of violence to carry out so-called “pig butchering” scams targeting Westerners, including Australians.

The Chinese term refers to scammers who build trust with victims over months, often through romantic relationships.

Scammers then get victims to invest big sums into fake cryptocurrency platforms – much like fattening a pig before slaughter.

In their statement, the prime ministers acknowledged the work already under way, including the Australian Federal Police’s efforts with the Royal Thai Police to “combat illicit drug trafficking”.

They hailed the jointly led Taskforce Storm “as an important mechanism for disrupting transnational criminal networks and intercepting illicit narcotics across the Mekong subregion, preventing the use of countries in the region as transit points for drug trafficking and protecting communities in Thailand, Australia and the wider region from the harms associated with illicit narcotics”.