Over 20,000 arrests worldwide in connection with online scams

More than 20,000 people were arrested from September to November in a massive campaign coordinated by Interpol around the world to fight against scams on the phone and on the internet. This large scale operation dubbed First Light was launched in early 2020 in 35 countries and has made it possible to carry out more than 10,000 searches to arrest 21,549 suspected criminals, operators, fraudsters and suspects of money laundering, and seize nearly $ 154 million in illicit funds from 310 frozen accounts, Interpol said Wednesday.

The operation was triggered after several months of investigation and a series of purple notices published by Interpol which allowed the sharing of information on the modus operandi, objects, devices and modes of concealment used by the criminals.

Take advantage of the context of the pandemic

The suspects were involved in several types of online scams mainly of the social engineering type consisting in manipulating people in order to obtain their passwords or bank details said the international police cooperation organization in a press release, stressing that the criminals had taken advantage of the context of the pandemic.

Most of the scams involved emails offering associations in business, romantic and sexual scams or smishing, or phishing by SMS, a method of scam that operates through mobile phone messaging in order to steal personal or banking data.

International dimension

This vast crackdown has revealed the international nature of many scams, the perpetrators of which often operate in another country, even another continent, to circumvent the law. The money collected also passes through several countries, and mules are sometimes used for money laundering, says Interpol.

The secretary general of the organization, Jürgen Stock said, it is important that member countries keep in mind that they are not alone in combating these frauds.

The health situation has forced Interpol to cancel its annual general meeting scheduled for these days. Its South Korean president Kim Jong-yang who was to give up his seat will therefore remain in place until the next assembly.