A global anti-fraud operation coordinated by the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) has resulted in the arrest of 5,811 suspects and the interception of illicit assets worth 293 million dollars across 97 countries and territories.
INTERPOL
INTERPOL disclosed this in a statement on Friday, saying the operation, codenamed Operation First Light 2026, was conducted between Jan. 15 and April 30 to combat social engineering scams and related money laundering activities.
It said the operation targeted a wide range of cyber-enabled fraud schemes, including business email compromise, romance scams, investment fraud, sextortion and impersonation scams.
According to INTERPOL, participating countries engaged in intelligence sharing before carrying out coordinated enforcement actions against high-value targets over a three-month period.
The operation involved raids on identified locations, the freezing of bank accounts and cryptocurrency wallets, the issuance of INTERPOL Notices and Diffusions, and the deployment of the organization’s Global Rapid Intervention of Payments (I-GRIP) mechanism to swiftly block illicit financial transfers.
INTERPOL said the operation identified more than 142,000 victims worldwide, underscoring the growing threat posed by social engineering scams to individuals, businesses and governments.
It added that investigators analysed 152,808 cases, solved 23,715 of them, identified 15,606 suspects, blocked 31,014 bank accounts and issued 99 Notices and Diffusions.
Director of the INTERPOL Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre, Tomonobu Kaya, said social engineering scams remained a significant global threat because criminal syndicates exploited human psychology to deceive victims.
“Social engineering scams continue to pose a significant threat to our society.
“Criminal syndicates exploit human psychology to manipulate their targets, and no nation can stay safe unless all countries are equipped and committed to jointly fighting back,” Kaya said.
He added that INTERPOL remained committed to helping member countries develop coordinated strategies to combat cyber-enabled financial crimes, organised criminal networks and money laundering.
Among the major cases highlighted during the operation, authorities in Eswatini arrested 82 suspects linked to illegal online gambling, money laundering and impersonation scams.
Police also seized 240 electronic devices, foreign currencies and a replica of a Brazilian police station complete with fake uniforms and equipment allegedly used to deceive victims during video calls.
In Thailand, investigators arrested two suspects over a money laundering operation linked to romance scams and cryptocurrency transactions. One suspect’s digital wallet was found to have processed more than 122.5 million dollars within 10 months.
Authorities in Singapore and Oman used INTERPOL’s I-GRIP payment intervention system to block an illicit transfer of 6.6 million dollars linked to a business email compromise scam targeting a Singapore-based commodity trading company.
In Macao, China, police prevented a victim from transferring nearly 372,000 dollars to fraudsters posing as public officials after discovering the ongoing scam during a public awareness campaign.
Meanwhile, authorities in Palau deported 22 individuals allegedly operating two scam centres from hotels, where they used cryptocurrency platforms and illegal gambling websites to target victims in multiple countries.
INTERPOL said the operation demonstrated the importance of international cooperation in disrupting organised cybercrime networks and protecting victims from increasingly sophisticated financial fraud schemes.
