From Interpol:
LYON, FRANCE – A transcontinental police operation against online financial crime has concluded with almost 3,500 arrests and seizures of USD 300 million (approx. EUR 273 million) worth of assets across 34 countries.
The six-month Operation HAECHI IV (July-December 2023) targeted seven types of cyber-enabled scams: voice phishing, romance scams, online sextortion, investment fraud, money laundering associated with illegal online gambling, business email compromise fraud, and e-commerce fraud.
Investigators worked together to detect online fraud and freeze associated bank and virtual asset service provider (VASP) accounts using INTERPOL’s Global Rapid Intervention of Payments (I-GRIP), a stop-payment mechanism which helps countries work together to block criminal proceeds.
Cooperation between Filipino and Korean authorities led to the arrest in Manila of a high-profile online gambling criminal after a two-year manhunt by Korea’s National Police Agency.
Authorities blocked 82,112 suspicious bank accounts, seizing a combined USD 199 million in hard currency and USD 101 million in virtual assets.
“The seizure of USD 300 million represents a staggering sum and clearly illustrates the incentive behind today’s explosive growth of transnational organized crime. This represents the savings and hard-earned cash of victims. This vast accumulation of unlawful wealth is a serious threat to global security and weakens the economic stability of nations worldwide.”
“HAECHI IV’s 200 per cent surge in arrests shows the persistent challenge of cyber-enabled crime, reminding us to stay alert and keep refining our tactics against online fraud, which is why INTERPOL operations like this are so important. Thank you to all concerned, especially colleagues from the Philippines and Korea.”
Investment fraud, business email compromise and e-commerce fraud accounted for 75 per cent of cases investigated in HAECHI IV.