A transnational cybercrime operation was taken down this week after law enforcement agencies from 34 countries coordinated on nearly 3,500 arrests and the seizure of about $300 million in stolen funds. According to Interpol, law enforcement agencies have spent six months running operation HAECHI IV — which sought to target organizations involved in voice phishing,
romance scams, online sextortion, investment fraud, money laundering associated with illegal online gambling,
business email compromise fraud, and e-commerce fraud.
“The seizure of $300 million represents a staggering sum and clearly illustrates the incentive behind today’s explosive growth of transnational organized crime,”
said Stephen Kavanagh, Interpol’s Executive Director of Police Services. Interpol added that Filipino and South Korean authorities arrested an unnamed “high-profile online gambling criminal” in Manila as part of the operation after a two-year manhunt.
Authorities traced online fraud back to several bank accounts and 367 virtual asset accounts. In total, law enforcement agencies were able to block 82,112 bank accounts while seizing $199 million in fiat currency as well as $101 million in cryptocurrency. Most cases that were part of the HAECHI IV operation involved investment fraud, business email compromise and e-commerce fraud.
