Law enforcement agencies arrest 3,500 cyber criminals, seize $300m in stolen assets

 

The operation 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.

From July to December 2023, investigators from all the participating countries used INTERPOL’s Global Rapid Intervention of Payments (I-GRIP) system to detect online fraud and freeze the bank accounts associated with the fraudulent activities. I-GRIP is a “stop-payment mechanism which helps countries work together to block criminal proceeds,” Interpol said.

The agency added that 75% of HAECHI IV’s cases involved investment fraud, business email compromise and e-commerce scams. The most significant arrest in this operation was of a Manila-based online gambling criminal whom the Korean police was hunting for more than two years.

Interpol’s head of National Central Bureau in Korea, Kim Dong Kwon, said, “It is remarkable that global efforts to stay ahead of the latest criminal trends have resulted in a substantial growth in operational outcomes.”

“Despite criminals’ endeavors to gain illicit advantages through contemporary trends, they will eventually be apprehended and face due punishment. To accomplish this, Project HAECHI will consistently evolve and expand its scope,” he added.

Interpol, in its press release, added that two Purple Notices were published during this operation to warn countries about emerging digital investment fraud practices.

“One alerted INTERPOL member countries to a new scam detected in Korea involving the sale of Non-Fungible Tokens with promises of huge returns, which turned out to be a “rug pull”, a growing scam in the crypto industry where developers abruptly abandon a project and investors lose their money.

“The second purple notice warned about the use of AI and deep fake technology to lend credibility to scams by enabling criminals to hide their identities and to pretend to be family members, friends or love interests,” the agency said.

Authorities from the UK, who participated in the operation, reported several cases where criminals used AI-generated synthetic content to deceive, defraud, harass, and extort victims with their impersonation scams, online sexual blackmail, and investment fraud. Cases also involved the impersonation of people known to the victims through voice cloning technology.

During this operation, law enforcement authorities blocked 82,112 suspicious bank accounts, seized a combined $199 million in hard currency and $101 million in virtual assets.

In a statement shared with the media, Stephen Kavanagh, Interpol’s Executive Director of Police Services, said, “The seizure of USD 300 million represents a staggering sum and clearly illustrates the incentive behind today’s explosive growth of transnational organised 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,” Kavanagh added.