"Global Police Arrest Thousands in Fraud Crackdown"

Interpol has recently announced a successful two-month anti-fraud operation that saw thousands of suspects arrested and tens of millions of dollars intercepted.  Operation First Light 2022 took place in March-May this year, with 76 countries participating in the crackdown on email and phone-based fraud.  During the operation, police raided 1770 locations, including call centers used in phone scams, and arrested at least 2000 “operators” and suspected fraudsters and money launderers.  Police also identified 3000 suspects, froze 4000 bank accounts, and intercepted $50m in illicit funds.  According to the FBI, romance scams and email-based fraud were among the key cybercrime types police focused on.  Among the successes was the arrest of eight individuals in Singapore on suspicion of running a Ponzi scheme.  The police also arrested a Chinese national wanted in connection with a Ponzi scheme that defrauded 24,000 victims out of €34m ($35m).  Separately, Singapore police rescued a teenage victim who had been tricked into pretending to be kidnapped.  The victim sent videos of himself with fake wounds to his parents in a bid to elicit a €1.5m ($1.6m) ransom.

Infosecurity reports: "Global Police Arrest Thousands in Fraud Crackdown"