3,500 arrested in global operation HAECHI-IV targeting financial criminals

ReportDecember 20, 2023Editorial DepartmentFinancial crime/cyber threats

The six-month international police operation is codenamed Haechi-IV Nearly 3,500 people have been arrested in 34 countries and $300 million worth of items have been seized.

The exercise, which will be conducted between July and December 2023, targets various types of financial crimes such as voice phishing, romance scams, online sextortion, investment fraud, money laundering related to illegal online gambling, commercial Email compromise fraud and spoofing, etc. Business fraud.

In addition, authorities also froze relevant bank and virtual asset service provider (VASP) accounts to cut off the pipeline of criminal proceeds. In total, authorities blocked 82,112 suspicious bank accounts and seized $199 million in hard currency and $101 million in virtual assets.

“Cooperation between Philippine and South Korean authorities has led to the arrest of a high-profile online gambling criminal in Manila after a two-year manhunt by South Korea’s National Police Agency,” international police organization Interpol said.

The agency added that investment fraud, business email compromise and e-commerce fraud accounted for 75% of cases, saying it had discovered a new scam in South Korea involving the sale of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) with the promise of huge returns, As a result, the operator suddenly abandoned the project.

Another new trend is the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and deepfake technology to increase the authenticity of fraud, allowing criminals to impersonate people known to the target and deceive, defraud, harass and extort victims through impersonation fraud, online pornography, etc. By. Extortion and investment fraud.

HAECHI-IV occurs more than a year after HAECHI-III, which resulted in the seizure of $130 million worth of virtual assets in the global fight against cyber financial crime and money laundering.

Interpol’s Stephen Kavanagh said: “The staggering $300 million seized clearly illustrates the motivations behind today’s explosive growth in transnational organized crime.” “The massive accumulation of illicit wealth poses a serious threat to global security and weakens countries around the world.” economic stability.”