By Our Correspondent
National News – A coordinated global operation led by INTERPOL has resulted in the arrest of 5,811 suspects and the recovery of approximately $293 million in illicit assets linked to financial crimes and online fraud across 97 countries and territories.
The operation, codenamed Operation First Light 2026, was carried out between January 15 and April 30, targeting transnational criminal networks involved in cyber-enabled fraud and money laundering.
According to INTERPOL, the operation focused on dismantling networks behind social engineering scams, including business email compromise, romance scams, investment fraud, sextortion, impersonation schemes and other online financial crimes.
Following months of intelligence gathering and information sharing, law enforcement agencies conducted coordinated raids, froze bank accounts and cryptocurrency wallets, issued INTERPOL Notices and Diffusions, and used the organisation’s Global Rapid Intervention of Payments mechanism to halt suspicious financial transactions.
INTERPOL said more than 142,000 victims were identified worldwide during the operation, highlighting the growing global threat posed by cyber-enabled financial fraud.
The operation also saw authorities analyse 152,808 cases, block 31,014 bank accounts, resolve 23,715 cases, identify 15,606 suspects, and issue 99 INTERPOL Notices and Diffusions.
Director of the INTERPOL Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre, Tomonobu Kaya, said international cooperation remains critical in tackling increasingly sophisticated fraud networks.
He noted that criminal syndicates continue to exploit human psychology to deceive victims and stressed that no country can effectively combat such crimes without close collaboration among law enforcement agencies worldwide.
Among the major breakthroughs was the arrest of 82 suspects in Eswatini, where police dismantled a criminal network involved in illegal online gambling, money laundering and elaborate impersonation scams.
Authorities recovered 240 electronic devices, foreign currencies and a replica of a Brazilian police station complete with fake police uniforms and equipment allegedly used to deceive victims into believing they were interacting with legitimate law enforcement officers.
In Thailand, investigators arrested two suspects linked to a romance scam and cryptocurrency money laundering syndicate. One suspect’s digital wallet reportedly processed more than $122.5 million in illicit transactions within a 10-month period.
Authorities in Singapore and Oman also worked together to prevent a fraudulent transfer of $6.6 million connected to a business email compromise scheme targeting a commodity trading company.
In Macao, police intercepted a scam before a victim transferred nearly $372,000 to fraudsters posing as public officials, while authorities in Palau deported 22 individuals allegedly connected to scam centres operating from hotels and targeting foreign victims through cryptocurrency and illegal gambling websites.
INTERPOL said the success of Operation First Light 2026 demonstrates the importance of sustained international cooperation in disrupting organised cybercrime networks and protecting individuals, businesses and governments from increasingly complex financial scams.
