Message from Transparency International

 

11/09/2026: A trillion-dollar corruption story Hi HABIB, No matter where you live, you probably know someone who has fallen victim to a scam. Scams promise easy money or invent a crisis – a computer virus, a blocked account – to trick people into handing over money or personal details. With new technologies such as AI, these threats are becoming more sophisticated and targeting people on a global scale. But scams carry a less visible cost: the so-called scam industry is a significant governance and human rights issue, and corruption is what keeps it running.  Scam centres have become one of the world's most lucrative forms of organised crime, stealing an estimated US$1 trillion globally in 2024 alone. Nearly all share the same basic components: a physical site, access to digital tools, a workforce and management structures. Bribery, political protection and law enforcement collusion multiply their reach, giving criminal networks cover to recruit, move and exploit victims, and vanish before police arrive. What would you ask the CPI team? You've seen the headlines the Corruption Perceptions Index generates every year. What would you like to know? Send us your questions and we'll answer a selection in a special edition of this newsletter.   📩 Reply to this email The mechanics of fraud  To the outside world, these facilities appear to be standard IT or business support offices, often housed in modern business centres. They operate not merely through random calls, but through a highly organised system of psychological engineering and technical manipulation. Scammers employ a specific playbook of "tricks" designed to dismantle a victim's scepticism, followed by "solutions," as documented by Transparency International Georgia.   How a scam call centre works (Infographic by TI Georgia)  Officials on the payroll  The pattern repeats across continents. This week, Ukraine's Prosecutor General, Ruslan Kravchenko, resigned amid corruption allegations related to scam centres in the country. Ukrainian anti-corruption investigators say they have identified a money-laundering scheme in the Prosecutor's office. In exchange for bribes, the officials allegedly protected fraudulent call centres that carried out phone scams and laundered millions in assets. Kravchenko denies the allegations. In Myanmar, reports show that the Karen Border Guard Force, which is connected to the Myanmar military, controls and provides security to scam compounds in exchange for a cut of profits.  In Georgia, allegations against senior officials and politically connected actors illustrate how scam centres can become embedded in state-linked protection networks. Corrupt actors allegedly shielded operations in exchange for kickbacks.   In Cambodia, scam operations are connected to political elites and housed in hotels, resorts, casinos and office parks. Wider kleptocratic and patronage networks help sustain the business.  Beyond the money, scam centres are connected to serious human rights abuses. Workers are trafficked into these compounds through fake job adverts, then held through debt bondage, violence and restrictions on movement. ​​​Corruption enables this at nearly every stage, with officials reportedly waving trafficked workers through border checkpoints. Even rescue isn't always safe: some escaped victims say police demanded bribes before letting them go. Why this keeps happening  Scam centres cluster where oversight is weakest: border areas, special economic zones and conflict-affected regions. Southeast Asia is a regional hotspot: six of ten ASEAN countries – the Association of Southeast Asian Nations – still lack adequate laws against private-sector bribery. Only three have whistleblower protections. Without those foundations, protection rackets can run with almost no legal risk.  Special economic zones are a particular blind spot. Designed to attract investment through lighter regulation, zones in Cambodia, Laos and the Philippines have all been cited as hosting scam operations. Seized smartphones are pictured at a scam centre following a raid in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in March 2026 (Photo: AFP/Tang Chhin Sothy) What can be done  Transparency International has published this research as part of an Anti-Corruption Helpdesk Answer – a set of briefings for anti-corruption practitioners.   The required responses are as much about governance as policing. On the criminal side, the report highlights the importance of stronger regional law enforcement cooperation, technological safeguards against increasingly sophisticated scams, and reintegration support for trafficked workers who escape. Without this support, many risk being pulled back into the same networks.  On the corruption side, there is a need to tighten the anti-corruption framework in states that shelter these operations and enhance oversight, so it actually reaches border areas and special economic zones. Officials complicit in trafficking need to face prosecution too, not only the low-level operators usually caught in raids.   In the Georgian case, it was not law enforcement that exposed the network – it was a whistleblower, an IT specialist working inside the scam structure. He identified specific high-ranking officials allegedly protecting criminals. According to the testimony, the network was vast, spanning hundreds of locations and employing tens of thousands of people. A single call centre could generate up to US$500,000 a day. Whistleblowers, investigative journalists and civil society groups are often the first to dig where others won't. That work is getting harder as "foreign agents" laws spread and require NGOs to disclose sources of foreign funding. Protecting them isn't a side issue in the fight against corruption. It's how the fight gets fought at all.  Recommended Reading The G20's sovereign debt problem Despite the urgency of the global debt crisis, information on lending decisions, loan agreements, allocations and conditions often remains undisclosed and beyond public scrutiny.    With debt transparency among the top priorities of the G20, our new policy brief presents recommendations to strengthen transparency, accountability and integrity in sovereign borrowing and lending.    Regional assessment of integrity in Asia's political finance A new Transparency International analysis of political finance systems across 17 Asian countries found almost no safeguard against corrupt money working as intended. In 11 of the 17 countries, political finance information isn't fully accessible despite reporting requirements on paper. Every single country surveyed had officials abusing state resources for political gain. Banking oversight is weak, political advertising online is barely regulated, and where donation limits exist, they go largely unenforced. These gaps favour wealthy, well-connected actors. Only three of the 17 countries offer targeted support to help women into politics.