The year 2025 is witnessing an alarming situation in the Southeast Asia region as visa waiver scams are blatantly exploding. According to a report from Travel And Tour World, key tourist countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar are the most heavily affected by this problem.
The surge in scams is undermining international travelers’ confidence in the region’s immigration processes and tourism policies. Fraudsters are increasingly sophisticated, from creating fake websites impersonating government agencies to issue invalid e-visas, profiting from shady visa services, to human trafficking networks disguised as tourism or attractive employment opportunities.
By 2025, Southeast Asia will see a surge in blatant visa-free travel scams.
International travelers, especially those who are uninformed or inexperienced, are becoming easy targets for these new and alarming scams. The consequences go beyond just losing money, and can also expose victims to life-threatening situations, forced labor, or criminal activity.
The main factor behind the explosion of visa fraud in Southeast Asia in 2025 is the subjective mentality and lack of understanding of the electronic visa (e-visa) process among tourists. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that governments in the region are accelerating the digitization of visa services, but have not yet tightly controlled official information channels, creating loopholes for criminals to exploit.
Countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar are among the most affected, according to Travel And Tour World
The situation is particularly alarming in Thailand, one of the world’s top tourist destinations. In the first quarter of 2025 alone, VFS Global – the visa and passport management unit for many governments and diplomatic missions – recorded more than 4,000 cases of tourists falling victim to fake e-visa websites. Each victim lost hundreds of US dollars, a significant amount for an administrative fee. The sophistication of these fraudulent websites is astonishing, they copy the interface almost perfectly, exactly like the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs portal, making it difficult for even cautious tourists to distinguish.
These incidents gradually "kill" international tourists' trust in the entry process and tourism policies in the region.
Similar problems are also prevalent in neighboring countries such as Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, where fraudulent websites openly charge two to three times the official fee. In Vietnam, for example, tourists are asked to pay up to $135 for an e-visa, when the legal fee is only $52. Worse, after paying this exorbitant amount, tourists do not receive a valid visa, leaving them stranded or in trouble at the border.
Taking advantage of some people's lack of understanding of the visa application process, the subject requests to provide unnecessary information or requests to transfer unclear fees in advance.
In addition to the tricks of exploiting e-visa services, a new and particularly dangerous trick is emerging: taking advantage of the student visa policy. A typical case was exposed earlier this year at the Buddhist University in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Hundreds of Chinese citizens were granted student visas, but their real purpose was not to study but to stay illegally in Thailand.
Incidents like this cause loss of confidence among tourists.
There are many reasons why visa fraud in Southeast Asia has become more complex and widespread than ever in 2025, creating a major challenge for the regional tourism industry. First of all, the strong boom in international tourism demand after the Covid-19 pandemic has created enormous pressure on the visa issuance systems of many countries for many years. With the surge in visitors, the visa processing process sometimes becomes overloaded, leading to delays or difficulties in accessing official channels. In that context, many governments have not yet had time to comprehensively upgrade their e-visa management infrastructure, and lack synchronous and effective communication campaigns to help tourists clearly identify official visa issuance channels, thereby easily falling into the trap of fake websites and services.
At the same time, the uncontrolled explosion of low-cost travel services on social media platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, and Telegram has become a "fertile ground" for scam rings to flourish. Many tourists, especially young people, with the mentality of seeking convenience and optimal costs, are easily attracted by advertisements for "fast, good price" visa services without verifying the origin or legality. These attractive invitations often contain unpredictable risks, leading to tourists being cheated of money, personal information, or worse, being lured into illegal networks.
The consequences of this wave of visa fraud and human trafficking are dire. In addition to the millions of dollars lost each year from tourists’ pockets, Southeast Asia’s reputation as a destination is being severely damaged on the world tourism map. This is a wake-up call for the need for drastic action to protect tourists and restore the region’s image.
