More than 1,000 arrested in
global crackdown on online fraud
The INTERPOL-led operation
involved law enforcement from 20 countries and led to the seizure of millions
of dollars in illicit gains
Law enforcement agencies
from around the globe have swooped down on hundreds of people suspected of
committing various types of online crime, including romance scams, investment fraud and money laundering operations.
The international effort led to the arrests of more than 1,000 individuals and
the seizure of almost US$27 million in illicit gains.
The operation, spearheaded
by Interpol and dubbed HAECHI-II, was carried out over a span of four months
and involved law enforcement from 20 countries, as well as authorities from
Hong Kong and Macao. The authorities were able to apprehend 1,003 individuals,
close 1,660 cases and block 2,350 bank accounts linked with illicit funds
gained from cybercrime, as well as identify ten new tactics utilized by
cybercriminals.
“The results of Operation
HAECHI-II show that the surge in online financial crime generated by the
COVID-19 pandemic shows no signs of waning. It also underlines the essential
and unique role played by INTERPOL in assisting member countries combat a crime
which is borderless by nature. Only through this level of global cooperation
and coordination can national law enforcement effectively tackle what is a
parallel cybercrime pandemic,” said INTERPOL’s Secretary General Jurgen Stock
in a press statement lauding the success of the operation.
In one case, a
Colombia-based textile company was defrauded out of more than US$8 million by
cybercriminals using a sophisticated business email compromise (BEC) attack. The scammers posed as legal
representatives of the company and ordered that over US$16 million be wired to
two Chinese bank accounts.
Half of the funds were
already transferred before the defrauded company caught on to the scam and
alerted the Colombian authorities. Fortunately, over 94% of the funds were
intercepted thanks to the quick reaction by INTERPOL’s offices in Hong Kong,
Beijing and Bogota.
Meanwhile, in another case,
a Slovenian company was tricked into wiring over US$800,000 to money mule
accounts in China. The Slovenian Criminal Police was able to intercept and
return the funds in cooperation with foreign authorities.
The operation also yielded
substantial information on emerging development in online financial crime.
Authorities in Colombia were able to uncover a malware-laced mobile application
that masqueraded as being affiliated with the Netflix hit series Squid Games.
Once the victim downloaded the trojan, it hacked the user’s billing information
and subscribed them to paid premium services, with the user being none the
wiser.
“Online scams like those
leveraging malicious apps evolve as quickly as the cultural trends they
opportunistically exploit,” warned INTERPOL’s Criminal Networks Assistant
Director José De Gracia. He went on to add that sharing information of emerging
threats is key for law enforcement to be able to protect victims of financial
cybercrime.