An international police operation targeting online financial crime held over six months has concluded with almost 3,500 arrests and the seizure of $300 million in assets across 34 countries.

The operation, called HAECHI IV, ran from July through to this month and targeted seven types of scams: voice phishing, romance scams, online sextortion, investment fraud, money laundering associated with illegal online gambling, business email compromise fraud and e-commerce fraud.

Police and other legal authorities, coordinated by the International Criminal Police Organization, employed Interpol’s Global Rapid Intervention of Payments system. A stop-payment mechanism, I-GRIP helps countries work together to block criminal proceeds as part of coordinated takedowns.

Authorities blocked 82,112 suspicious bank accounts, seizing $199 million in cash and $101 million in virtual assets. Working with virtual asset service providers, Interpol further helped authorities identify 367 virtual asset accounts linked to organized crime, with police in member countries freezing assets.

As part of the operation, two Purple Notices were published, warning countries about emerging digital investment fraud scams. An Interpol Purple Notice provides information about criminal practices, objects, devices and hiding places.

The first Purple Notice alerted Interpol member countries of a new scam detected in Korea involving the sale of Non-Fungible Tokens with promises of huge returns, which turned out to be a “rug pull” scam. The second notice warned of the use of artificial intelligence and deep fake technology to lend credibility to scams by allowing criminals to pretend to be family members, friends, or love interests.

“HAECHI IV’s 200% surge in arrests shows the persistent challenge of cyber-enabled crime, reminding us to stay alert and keep refining our tactics against online fraud, which is why Interpol operations like this are so important,” Stephen Kavanagh, Interpol’s executive director of Police Services, said in a statement today. “The seizure of $300 million represents a staggering sum and clearly illustrates the incentive behind today’s explosive growth of transnational organized crime.”

HAECHI IV participating countries included 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, the U.K., the U.S. and Vietnam.

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