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Deepfake-related crimes have risen by a staggering 1,530pc between 2022 and 2023 in the Asia-Pacific region.
Criminal syndicates in Southeast Asia are using the popular online platform Telegram as a “key venue” to connect and conduct business, a new UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report revealed.
Organised cybercrime in Southeast Asia is growing faster than it ever has, booming into its own criminal economy, the report published yesterday (7 October) said, adding that criminal groups are sprawling Telegram forums openly conducting illicit activities with little moderation.
It also found that the platform has become an important tool for underground cryptocurrency exchanges and online gambling rings.
The UNODC report represents the latest accusations levelled against Telegram, whose CEO Pavel Durov was recently arrested by the French government, which accused him of failing to take steps to stop criminal activity on the messaging app.
Telegram, however, pushed back, saying that its CEO has “nothing to hide”.
“It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform,” read a statement from the company.
However, the UNODC found thousands of underground marketplaces and channels attributed to Asian organised crime networks in Telegram. It also added that several influential regional criminal networks conduct activities on the platform.
Cyber-enabled crime has resulted in significant and concerning losses for its victims – the UNODC estimated that East and Southeast Asian victims suffered a financial loss of between $18bn and $37bn at the hand of cybercriminals just last year.
“Organised crime groups are converging and exploiting vulnerabilities, and the evolving situation is rapidly outpacing governments’ capacity to contain it,” said Masood Karimipour, UNODC regional representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
The report also highlighted how criminals are exploiting technological advancements like artificial intelligence and deepfakes, offering criminal “services” including identity theft, biometric identification, data privacy violations and even the creation of AI-assisted sextortion and deepfake pornography.
Some criminal vendors are also dedicated to developing malicious software, including fraudulent investment apps, scam kits, data theft, hacking and deepfake software development.
The report found that deepfake-related crimes have risen by a staggering 1,530pc between 2022 and 2023 in the region, as well as a significant hike in the number of deepfake keywords mentioned in Telegram forums in Southeast Asia between February and July 2024.
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