Interpol-led global operation took down 45,000 criminal IP addresses and servers

A global law enforcement operation involving authorities from 72 countries and coordinated by Interpol succeeded in taking down more than 45,000 malicious IP addresses and servers and arresting 94 cyber criminals.

 

Interpol said the joint law enforcement operation, named Operation Synergia III, targeted a range of scams and cyber fraud activities, including romance scams, credit card fraud, and thousands of fake websites set up by cyber criminals in the name of casinos, banks, government agencies and payment services.

 

In Macau, China alone, law enforcement authorities identified and cracked down on more than 33,000 phishing and fraudulent websites that impersonated known businesses and government agencies to steal victims’ personal and payment card information. 

 

In Togo, law enforcement agencies shut down a cyber crime ring that engaged in hacking social media accounts and carrying out romance scams and sextortion. The criminals used hacked social media accounts to build fake romantic relationships with other users and persuaded them to make money transfers. As many as ten suspected cyber criminals were arrested in this operation.

 

In Bangladesh, police also arrested 40 suspected cyber criminals who perpetrated loan and job scams, identity theft and credit card fraud and confiscated 134 electronic devices that were used to carry out these activities.

 

Interpol said cyber security companies like Group-IB, Trend Micro and S2W helped law enforcement agencies to track illegal cyber activities and identify malicious servers. The coordinated law enforcement action also involved authorities from dozens of South American, African and Asian countries.

 

"During the operation, INTERPOL transformed data into actionable intelligence, facilitated cross-border collaboration, and provided tactical operational assistance to member countries," Interpol said. "Preliminary investigations led to a series of coordinated actions by national authorities, including raids on key locations and the disruption of malicious cyber activities.  In total 212 electronic devices and servers were seized."

 

Operation Synergia III, carried out between 18 July 2025 and 31 January 2026, helped authorities take down more than 45,000 malicious IP addresses and servers, arrest 94 suspected cyber criminals and begin investigations against another 110 individuals.

 

In a previous joint law enforcement operation coordinated by Interpol, named Operation Synergia II and conducted between 1 April 2024 and 31 August 2024, law enforcement authorities from 95 countries tracked and shut down more than 22,000 malicious IP addresses and servers, arrested 41 individuals and confiscated 43 laptops, mobile phones and hard disks used to carry out cyber crimes.

 

The law enforcement operation targeted cyber criminals networks that engaged in large-scale phishing activities to steal data, deploy malware and infiltrate systems. Interpol said the targeted cyber criminal networks routinely deployed infostealer malware to steal credentials and sensitive data and ransomware to force victims into paying ransom money.