3,500 Arrested, $300 Million Seized in International Crackdown on Online Fraud

As part of an international effort to tackle online financial fraud, authorities in 34 countries have arrested approximately 3,500 suspects and seized roughly $300 million worth of assets, Interpol announced on Tuesday.
The six-month operation, named HAECHI IV, targeted business email compromise, ecommerce fraud, investment fraud, voice phishing, money laundering associated with illegal online gambling, romance scams, and online sextortion schemes.
As part of the effort, authorities blocked more than 82,000 bank accounts and seized $199 million in hard currency and approximately $101 million in cryptocurrency.
According to Interpol, roughly 75% of the cases investigated as part of operation HAECHI IV were related to investment fraud, BEC, and ecommerce fraud schemes.
The operation also led to the arrest of a high-profile online gambling criminal who evaded authorities for two years.
Europol published its 2023 Internet organized crime threat assessment and an accompanying IOCTA spotlight report, noting that investment fraud and BEC schemes remain the most prolific forms of online financial fraud, while cybercrime markets are booming with stolen data and credentials.
The report underlines similarities in techniques across different types of cybercriminal activities, as well as the perpetrators' reliance on cybercrime services such as initial access brokers for ransomware and other malware delivery, counter antivirus services for detection evasion, and VPNs for masking identities.
On top of these, there are the internet services providers that turn a blind eye to the illicit operations performed using their infrastructure.


This Cyber News was published on www.securityweek.com. Publication date: Wed, 20 Dec 2023 12:13:04 +0000


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