Interpol breaks business email compromise centres
Agencies in 76 countries arrested 2,000 people and recovered millions of dollars.
A mass operation coordinated by Interpol has seen about 2,000 people arrested and $50 million seized as law enforcement agencies raided call centres around the world.
Interpol has coordinated its 'First Light' campaign every year since 2014, beginning in Southeast Asia but now spreading across the globe. China's Ministry of Public Security provided financial support for the 2022 operation.
The aim of First Light 2022 was to crack down on social engineering and telecoms fraud, targeting the organised crime groups behind business email compromise (BEC), telephone deception, romance scams and connected financial crime.
"Telecom and BEC fraud are sources of serious concern for many countries and have a hugely damaging effect on economies, businesses and communities," said Rory Corcoran, director of INTERPOL's Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre (IFCACC).
Operators, fraudsters and money launderers were among the 2,000 people arrested when law enforcement agencies raided 1,770 locations worldwide. Along with the physical action, the agencies also froze around 4,000 bank accounts - denying funds to organised crime.
Criminals rely on tech
Interpol identified several emerging criminal trends during First Light 2022, including the growing use of social media platforms. Crime gangs are increasingly using tools like Facebook to drive human trafficking, trapping people into forced labour, sexual slavery, or captivity.
The international agency also noticed an increase in voice scams (vishing); a rise in criminals posing as Interpol agents; and money launderers passing dirty cash through victims' personal bank accounts.
In the wake of the pandemic as connectivity has created new online roles, companies and individuals using these business opportunities are increasingly being scammed.
For example, police in Singapore arrested eight suspects linked to Ponzi-like job scams. They would offer high-paying online marketing jobs to victims via social media and messaging systems. Initially the targets would earn small sums, and subsequently be required to recruit more members to earn commissions.
Another Ponzi scheme saw a Chinese national defraud nearly 24,000 people out of a total €34 million. They were arrested in Papua New Guinea and returned to China, via Singapore.
"The transnational and digital nature of different types of telecom and social engineering fraud continues to present grave challenges for local police authorities, because perpetrators operate from a different country or even continent than their victims and keep updating their fraud schemes," said Duan Daqi, head of the Interpol National Central Bureau in Beijing.
"The international nature of these crimes can only be addressed successfully by law enforcement working together beyond borders, which is why Interpol is critical to providing police the world over with a coordinated tactical response," said Corcoran.