Global fraud bust: 5,800 arrests and US$293m intercepted in Interpol sting

LYON: A global anti-fraud operation involving 97 countries and territories, including Malaysia, has led to the arrest of 5,811 individuals and the interception of US$ 293 million in illicit assets.

Operation First Light 2026, which ran from January to April, was coordinated by Interpol. The operation focused on combating social engineering scams and associated money laundering activities.

Social engineering is a broad term that refers to techniques that exploit a person’s trust to obtain money or confidential information. This type of fraud can include business email compromise, sextortion, as well as romance, impersonation, or investment scams.

According to Interpol, after an initial period of intelligence collection and exchange, participating countries took part in more than three months of operational activities.

“This included pro-active action against high-value targets, raiding identified premises, blocking or freezing bank accounts and virtual wallets, requesting Interpol Notices and Diffusions, and proactively utilising Interpol’s Global Rapid Intervention of Payments (I-GRIP), a stop-payment mechanism that facilitates the swift blocking of illicit financial flows of both fiat and virtual assets,” Interpol said in a statement.

Over 142,000 victims globally were identified during the operation, highlighting the extent to which social engineering scams and fraud have escalated into a major transnational threat, affecting individuals, businesses, and governments.

Other significant results include:

Tomonobu Kaya, Interpol’s Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre director, said 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,” said Kaya.

“Interpol is dedicated to supporting member countries in building a comprehensive, coordinated strategy to tackle cyber-enabled financial crimes, organised criminal networks, and the money laundering that fuels them.”

In Eswatini, police arrested 82 people and dismantled a criminal network running illegal online gambling, money laundering, and elaborate impersonation scams.

Authorities seized 240 electronic devices, foreign currency, and a realistic replica of a Brazilian police station, complete with fake uniforms, signage, and equipment.

Posing as Brazil’s Federal Police via video call, the scammers deceived their targets into believing they were victims of a crime, tricking them into transferring funds for “safekeeping,” which were then stolen.

Due to the scale and complexity of the digital evidence, an Interpol Operational Support Team was deployed at the request of authorities in Eswatini to provide forensic analysis of the seized devices.

In Thailand, police made two arrests and uncovered a money laundering scheme that funneled illicit funds from romance scams into various cryptocurrencies, utilising cross-chain token swaps to obscure the financial trail.

Investigations showed that the digital wallet of one of the suspects, aged 20, had processed more than USD 122.5 million in just 10 months.

Authorities in Singapore and Oman, meanwhile, utilised I-GRIP to block a USD 6.6 million illicit transfer linked to a Business Email Compromise scam. In this case, a Singapore-based commodity trading firm was targeted by criminals impersonating a supplier.

Image: Interpol