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A global anti-fraud operation involving 97 countries and territories has led to the arrest of 5,811 individuals and the interception of $293 million in illicit assets, INTERPOL has said.
The operation, codenamed Operation First Light 2026, ran from January 15 to April 30, 2026 and focused on combating social engineering scams and associated money laundering activities.
Social engineering refers to techniques that exploit a person’s trust to obtain money or confidential information.
It includes business email compromise, sextortion, as well as romance, impersonation and investment scams.
In a July 9 statement obtained by Daily Sun this week, INTERPOL said that after an initial period of intelligence collection and exchange, participating countries carried out more than three months of operational activities.
These included raids on identified premises, blocking or freezing bank accounts and virtual wallets, requesting INTERPOL Notices and Diffusions, and using INTERPOL’s Global Rapid Intervention of Payments, I-GRIP, a stop-payment mechanism for swift blocking of illicit financial flows in both fiat and virtual assets.
A total of 142,000 victims globally were identified during the operation, highlighting what INTERPOL described as the escalation of social engineering scams into a major transnational threat affecting individuals, businesses and governments.
Other key results include: 152,808 cases analyzed, 31,014 bank accounts blocked, 23,715 cases solved, 15,606 suspects identified, and 99 Notices and Diffusions issued.
Director of the INTERPOL Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre, Tomonobu Kaya, said, “Social engineering scams continue to pose a significant threat to our society. Criminal syndicates exploit human psychology to manipulate their targets, and no nation can stay safe unless all countries are equipped and committed to jointly fighting back.”
Notable arrests and seizures
In Eswatini, police arrested 82 people and dismantled a criminal network running illegal online gambling, money laundering and elaborate impersonation scams.
Authorities seized 240 electronic devices, foreign currency and a realistic replica of a Brazilian police station, complete with fake uniforms, signage and equipment.
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According to INTERPOL, the scammers posed as Brazil’s Federal Police via video call to deceive targets into believing they were victims of a crime, tricking them into transferring funds for “safekeeping,” which were then stolen. An INTERPOL Operational Support Team was deployed to assist with forensic analysis of the seized devices.
In Thailand, police made two arrests and uncovered a money laundering scheme that funneled illicit funds from romance scams into various cryptocurrencies using cross-chain token swaps.
Investigations showed that the digital wallet of one suspect, aged 20, had processed more than $122.5 million in 10 months.
Authorities in Singapore and Oman utilized I-GRIP to block a $6.6 million illicit transfer linked to a Business Email Compromise scam targeting a Singapore-based commodity trading firm. The criminals had impersonated a supplier.
In Macao, China, police discovered during community outreach that a member of the public was being manipulated by a syndicate impersonating public officials.
The victim was convinced to transfer money under the guise of a fraud investigation. Police intervened before the victim sent close to $372,000.
In Palau, authorities deported 22 individuals for their role in two connected scam centres operating from hotels.
The suspects used cryptocurrency and illegal gambling websites to target victims in foreign countries.
INTERPOL said Operation First Light was funded by China’s Ministry of Public Security and supported by ASEANAPOL, GCCPOL, and Europol.
Participating countries include Nigeria, United States, United Kingdom, China, India, South Africa, Canada, Brazil, Australia and 89 others.
INTERPOL said the operation underscores the need for coordinated international action to tackle cyber-enabled financial crimes and the money laundering networks that sustain them.
