Senior officials from ASEAN, China and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) have agreed to address transnational organized crime and trafficking in persons associated with casinos and scams.

A Chinese fugitive accused of illegal online gambling and human trafficking has been intercepted by authorities in the Philippines.

The U.S. State Department has warned companies considering investing in Cambodia that there is a high risk of money laundering, corruption and human trafficking in sectors such as casinos and banking.

Timor-Leste recently barred a group of young travellers from going to Cambodia out of fear the individuals may fall victim to human trafficking rings. That is according to a news report quoting a senior police official in the Southeast Asian nation.

Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has responded to the ongoing outcry over human trafficking cases within the region, and related to POGOs, noting that the nation has “become a target for many of these unscrupulous activities”.

The pressure on Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) continues, as a recent raid on a firm in Las Piñas, in the Philippines, has found around 2,000 alleged victims of human trafficking, according to reports.

The Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs has hailed its ranking in a recent United States Trafficking in Persons report, expressing pride in its Tier 1 ranking – meaning a country “fully meets the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking”.

Interpol has warned of a ‘global trafficking crisis’, highlighting cases in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, as well as four other unidentified Asian countries.

Philippine senator Risa Hotiveros is asking the National Bureau of Investigation and Philippine National Police Cybercrime Division to investigate an alleged large scale Chinese human trafficking operation using Filipino teams in Myanmar to operate cryptocurrency scams.

A two year Senate investigation has revealed a “clear-link” between the rise of the POGO industry and a surge of prostitution and human trafficking cases prompting the senator in charge of the investigation to look into suspending POGO operations.