Global Cyber-Enforcement Op Nets $130M, Says Interpol
A worldwide operation aimed at curtailing fraud has led to the arrest of 975 suspects and the seizure of nearly $130 million, as Interpol expands its efforts and brings new tools to its investigations. Interpol’s National Central Bureaus (NCBs) collaborated with local authorities to pursue arrests. Interpol announced that the linked investigations, dubbed Operation Haechi III, tracked cyber-enabled financial crimes and money laundering in 30 countries. The investigations, which took place between June 28 and Nov. 23, intercepted money transfers and virtual assets, leading to the arrest of 975 suspects in the last five months. Interpol, along with Afripol, also announced an Africa-centric effort — the Africa Cyber Surge Operation — involving 27 countries collaborating over the past four months. The efforts resulted in the takedown of a dark market in Eritrea, investigations into cryptocurrency scams in Cameroon, and the arrest of the operators of malicious cyber infrastructure used for botnets, phishing campaigns, and online extortion. In addition to national government, Interpol credited private-sector partners with helping out, including British Telecom, the Cyber Defense Institute, Fortinet’s FortiGuard Labs, Group-IB, Kaspersky, Palo Alto Networks’ Unit 42 team, Shadowserver, and Trend Micro.