Interpol Cuffs a Record 5,500 Alleged Cybercrooks and Seizes Over $400 Million in Latest HAECHI (V) Operation

Interpol has announced the culmination of a massive global operation, ending with the arrest of over 5,500 financial crime suspects and the seizure of more than $400 million in virtual assets and government-backed currencies.

Operation HAECHI V, the fifth of its kind in as many years, ran from July to November 2024 and involved law enforcement from 40 countries.

The action targeted multiple types of cyber-enabled fraud, including voice phishing, romance scams, extortion, investment fraud, illegal online gambling, business email compromise (BEC) fraud, and e-commerce fraud.

Major focus on voice phishing

As part of the operation, Korean and Chinese authorities dismantled what Interpol calls “a sprawling voice phishing syndicate” responsible for financial losses totaling $1.1 billion and affecting over 1,900 victims.

Operators would often impersonate police or use fake ID to dupe their victims. The operation led to the arrest of at least 27 members of this single group of organized crime, and 19 have already been indicted.

Stablecoin fraud

As part of the operation, Interpol also warned countries of an emerging cryptocurrency fraud practice involving stablecoin – i.e. a non-fluctuating cryptocurrency whose value is fixed to another asset. Most stablecoins are pegged to the US dollar or the euro.

Member countries were alerted to what is known as the “USDT Token Approval Scam,” which allows fraudsters to access and control victims’ crypto wallets.

“The two-step approach first lures in victims using romance baiting techniques, instructing them to buy popular Tether stablecoins (USDT Tokens) via a legitimate platform,” Interpol explains. “Once the scammers have gained their trust, the victims are provided with a phishing link claiming to allow them to set up their investment account. In reality, by clicking they authorize full access to the scammers, who can then transfer funds out of their wallet without the victim’s knowledge.”

Stop-payment tool returned tens of millions to victims

Interpol’s Global Rapid Intervention of Payments (I-GRIP) helped financial crime specialists intercept and recover tens of millions from fraud in over 80 countries.

In one major win, the stop-payment mechanism helped a commodity firm in Singapore recover some $40 million it had lost to a business email compromise scam.

Bitdefender strongly recommends firms take cybersecurity seriously, as attacks can even cripple a business overnight.

Read: Five Essential Cybersecurity Tools and Practices for Small Firms

Learn to spot a scam

Fraudsters scrape data off social networks or buy data dumps from breaches to weave intricate social engineering scams. According to the Bitdefender 2024 Consumer Cybersecurity Assessment Report, four in five netizens make sensitive transactions on their phones without adequate cybersecurity practices – all while saying their main fear is that hackers will access their money.

Voice cloning is a particularly lucrative scammer technique, causing massive financial damage to victims.

Scammers obtain a voice sample from a recording or a phone call, then feed that sample to an AI tool to generate a fake emergency, and finally request an urgent payment be made to get someone off the hook.

A family from San Francisco went through this horrific ordeal when scammers used voice-cloning technology to try and persuade the parents to pay for their son’s bail.

In January this year, the US Federal Trade Commission turned to the general public to ask for good ideas to combat voice-cloning crime, offering $25,000 to the best scam-buster.

If you're suspicious about a certain phone call, email or text, consider using Scamio, our clever scam-fighting chatbot designed specifically to combat socially engineered fraud attacks.

For peace of mind, always run a dedicated security solution on your computer and phone.

Image source: Interpol