Interpol Arrests Over 20,000 Phone and Internet Scammers in Global Operation

Interpol has announced the completion of a year-long operation, codenamed First Light, targeting phone and internet fraud. Law enforcement agencies arrested a total of 21,549 operators, scammers, and money launderers, shut down 310 fraudulent bank accounts, and intercepted illegal financial transactions totaling $153,973,709.

International Cooperation Against Fraud

The coordinated crackdown involved 35 countries worldwide, focusing on organized criminal groups engaged in various types of telecommunications and social engineering fraud. Governments exchanged information and intelligence gathered during the operation to identify suspects and conduct investigations.

Types of Fraud Uncovered

Other types of scams uncovered during the operation included:

• BEC attacks (Business Email Compromise)
• Romance scams
• Smishing (a form of phishing conducted via SMS messages)

Notable Incident in Singapore

In Singapore, police arrested a man who presented fake Interpol credentials while accompanying an elderly woman to a bank to withdraw funds. Further investigation revealed that the man himself had fallen victim to scammers posing as Chinese law enforcement officers, who provided him with a fake ID and instructed him to collect the woman’s money.