Online scam syndicates that rely on trafficked workers, guarded compounds and vast call-centre-style operations could soon become more threatening by exploiting Agentic AI to run some fraud operations autonomously, a Cybercrime expert has warned.Unlike earlier uses of Artificial Intelligence to write scripts, translate messages or produce deepfakes, Agentic AI systems can carry out multi-step tasks with limited human prompting, raising the prospect of scams that are faster, cheaper, more personalised and much harder for authorities to trace.Losses from Transnational online scams in Asia-Pacific tripled to US$114 billion last year from 2023, according to a United Nations report released last month.
SRCSouth China Morning Post
LANGEN
LEANCenter-Right
WORDS100
ENT7
FRI · 2026-08-21 · 06:29 GMTBRIEF NSR-2026-0821-104440
NSR-2026-0821-104440News Report·EN·Technology
Asia faces scam ‘epidemic’ threat as gangs exploit agentic AI, cybercrime expert warns
A cybercrime expert warns that online scam syndicates in Asia could become more dangerous by using agentic AI. These AI systems can perform multi-step tasks autonomously with minimal human input, unlike previous AI applications that only assisted with tasks like scriptwriting or translation.
Joseph SipalanSouth China Morning PostFiled 2026-08-21 · 06:29 GMTLean · Center-RightRead · 1 min
South China Morning PostFIG 01
Reading time
1min
Word count
100words
Sources cited
1cited
Entities identified
7entities
Quality score
100%
§ 01
Briefing Summary
AI-generatedNEWSAR · AI
A cybercrime expert warns that online scam syndicates in Asia could become more dangerous by using agentic AI. These AI systems can perform multi-step tasks autonomously with minimal human input, unlike previous AI applications that only assisted with tasks like scriptwriting or translation. This advancement could lead to scams that are faster, cheaper, more personalized, and significantly harder for authorities to track. Losses from transnational online scams in the Asia-Pacific region have already tripled to $114 billion last year, according to a UN report. The syndicates currently operate with trafficked workers in guarded compounds and large call centers.
Confidence 0.85Sources 1Claims 4Entities 7
§ 02
Article analysis
Model · rule-basedFraming
Technology
Economic Impact
Tone
Mixed Tone
AI-assessed
CalmNeutralAlarmist
Factuality
0.70 / 1.00
Factual
LowHigh
Sources cited
1
Limited
FewMany
§ 03
Key claims
4 extracted01
Losses from transnational online scams in Asia-Pacific tripled to US$114 billion last year from 2023.
statisticUnited Nations report
Confidence
0.95
02
Agentic AI systems can carry out multi-step tasks with limited human prompting, raising the prospect of scams that are faster, cheaper, more personalised and much harder for authorities to trace.
factualcybercrime expert
Confidence
0.90
03
Scam operations rely on trafficked workers, guarded compounds and vast call-centre-style operations.
factualarticle
Confidence
0.85
04
Online scam syndicates could soon become more threatening by exploiting agentic AI to run fraud operations autonomously.
predictioncybercrime expert
Confidence
0.80
§ 04
Full report
1 min read · 100 words§ 05
Entities
7 identifiedKey playerOppositionContextPositiveNeutralNegative
Locations1
§ 06
Keywords & salience
8 termsonline scams
1.00
agentic ai
1.00
cybercrime
0.90
fraud operations
0.80
asia-pacific
0.70
artificial intelligence
0.60
transnational scams
0.50
call-centre
0.40
§ 07
Topic connections
Interactive graph Network visualization showing 2 related topics
View Full Graph Person Organization Location Event|Click node to navigate|Edge numbers = shared articles