A United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime report has found Pacific communities are increasingly in the sights of global scam networks through the use of technology largely involving artificial intelligence and social media.

The latest assessment across the region estimates scam operators have stolen somewhere between $125 billion to $165 billion last year alone through the exploitation of vulnerable people.

The 2026 Interconnected Crime Ecosystem report that assessed transnational organised crime threats warned that as authorities increase the pressure on operating scam networks, criminal groups are looking for new locations carrying weaker regulations and enforcement, specifically pinpointing small Pacific Island states as soft targets.

The report identifies a shift where criminals provide specialised services such as money laundering, data acquisition, recruitment and technical support to criminal clients while sharing infrastructure, financial systems, technology and services for human trafficking, migrant smuggling, illegal gambling, drug trafficking and multiple other crimes.

Delphine Schantz, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime regional delegate covering the Pacific, said organised crime groups were no longer operating as separate criminal operations.

Ms Schantz compared organised the crime groups to operating more like a legitimate business.

"Their operating model looks like corporate franchising," she said at the launch of the report.

"Imagine specialised departments for laundering money, trafficking people, smuggling migrants, and harvesting data, all plugged into the same, service-based interconnected network."

The findings show the scammers are increasingly using shared technology that includes money laundering systems and recruitment networks to expand across transnational borders.

UN lead analyst, Inshik Sim, earmarked in the report that national governments had to urgently act quickly as criminal networks, most from Southeast Asia, continued to evolve.

"The scale and complexity of this expanding organised crime economy are outpacing existing responses, which were not structured to address such sophisticated criminal activity," he wrote.

The UN agency says the report highlights the need for stronger digital protections, greater public awareness and closer regional cooperation as organised crime networks look for new opportunities across the Pacific.

The warning comes as Pacific countries report growing cases of online fraud, financial scams and exploitation linked to digital platforms.

Multiple young women in Tonga have been targeted through online romance-style relationship schemes, with some lured overseas by promises of marriage, financial security and support for their families.

A TV report in New Zealand/Aotearoa spoke to two women that had been approached via social media from people involved in organised marriage recruitment networks. After travelling to China, both women said they experienced exploitation, isolation and abuse and were often held against their will in scam compounds.

One survivor described the trauma she faced after being separated from support networks and controlled by others.

"In the end, I thought it would be better if I was dead," she told Tagata Pasifika, a current events program produced for Pacific communities.

At least a further six young Tongan women have been targeted by similar recruitment networks operating through social media, the program added.

Authorities are also warning about the growing impact of online financial scams in Fiji.

Speaking during the separate launch of Anti-Scam Awareness Week, Fiji Police commissioner Rusiate Tudravu said investigations found that both men and women have reportedly lost the collective equivalent of around $1 million from 1672 reported scams since 2017 where many still remain unresolved.

Authorities found an increasing number of scammers are benefitting from artificial intelligence, fake social media accounts and sophisticated impersonations to gain people's trust.

The Australian Deputy High Commissioner to Fiji has sounded out an alert to local police in a warning that criminal groups are using AI and deepfake technology to make the scams more convincing.

The Consumer Council of Fiji has also informed the public that digital fraud should be treated as a serious national issue.

Seema Shandil, the chief executive of the council, is also urging communities "not to blame victims who are targeted by increasingly sophisticated methods".