Interpol seizes $300M, arrests 3,500 people in sting operation across Nigeria, Ghana, others
Reports say that INTERPOL has arrested about 3,500 people across Nigeria, Ghana, and other countries as they seized $300 million in addition.
On Tuesday, December 19, 2023, the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) declared the end of a transcontinental police operation against online financial crime, resulting in nearly 3,500 arrests and the confiscation of assets valued at $300 million from 34 different countries.
Seven categories of cyber-enabled scams were the focus of the six-month Operation HAECHI IV (July–December 2023): voice phishing, romantic scams, online sextortion, investment fraud, money laundering related to illicit online gambling, business email compromise fraud, and e-commerce fraud.
According to INTERPOL, the operation was carried out across 34 countries, which include Argentina, Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, Cayman Islands, Ghana, Hong Kong (China), India, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Liechtenstein, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Korea, Romania, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Viet Nam.
According to INTERPOL, the investigators in HAECHI IV collaborated to identify online fraud and used its Global Rapid Intervention of Payments (I-GRIP) stop-payment mechanism, which enables nations to work together to block criminal proceeds, to freeze related bank and virtual asset service provider (VASP) accounts.
It further stated that during a two-year manhunt by Korea’s National Police Agency, a prominent online gambling offender was apprehended in Manila as a result of collaboration between Filipino and Korean law enforcement.
