3,500 arrested, $300 million.seized following global crackdown on cybercrime

December 21, 2023 World Crime & Legal

In the most recent concerted global effort against cybercrime, 34 countries’ law enforcement agencies collaborated to apprehend 3,500 suspects and seize $300 million in assets.

Operation HAECHI IV, carried out by Interpol between July and December, targeted seven types of scams: e-commerce fraud, online sextortion, investment fraud, voice phishing, business email compromise fraud, and money laundering related to illegal online gambling.

As a result of the operation, authorities blocked 82,112 suspicious bank accounts, recovered $199 million in tangible assets, and also seized $101 million in virtual assets. Governments were able to work together via Interpol’s Global Rapid Intervention of Payments (I-GRIP) to block relevant bank and virtual asset service provider accounts, which made it easier to freeze illicit gains.

Stephen Kavanagh, executive director of Interpol’s police services, highlighted the “staggering” sum seized, underscoring the threat that illicit wealth buildup presents to both national and international security. I-GRIP was used in Operation HAECHI IV to detect online fraud and freeze accounts, with a focus on investigator collaboration.

The inquiry turned up examples of artificial intelligence (AI)-generated fake content being used in investment fraud, identity theft, and online sexual extortion. Interpol published “purple notices” to alert the public about the use of more sophisticated methods in digital investment fraud, such as deepfake and artificial intelligence (AI) to increase the plausibility of scams using non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that promise substantial returns.

E-commerce fraud, corporate email compromise, and investment fraud accounted for 75% of the cases investigated throughout the investigation. The global initiative demonstrated the continued danger of cyber-enabled crime by producing a 200% increase in arrests over the previous year’s operation (HAECHI III). A number of countries participated, including Argentina, Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, the Cayman Islands, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Liechtenstein, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Poland, Korea, Romania, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States, Vietnam, and Hong Kong.