Law enforcement agencies have arrested 5,811 suspects and seized $293 million in illicit assets in a global anti-fraud operation spanning 97 countries.
Dubbed "Operation First Light 2026," this joint action has targeted social engineering fraud (including business email compromise, sextortion, impersonation, romance, and investment scams) and money laundering activities between January 15 and April 30.
"This included pro-active action against high-value targets, raiding identified premises, blocking or freezing bank accounts and virtual wallets, requesting INTERPOL Notices and Diffusions and proactively utilizing INTERPOL's Global Rapid Intervention of Payments (I-GRIP), a stop-payment mechanism that facilitates the swift blocking of illicit financial flows of both fiat and virtual assets," INTERPOL said on Thursday.
"Over 142,000 victims globally were identified during Operation First Light 2026, highlighting the extent to which social engineering scams and fraud have escalated into a major transnational threat, affecting individuals, businesses and governments."
Throughout the operation, investigators identified more than 142,000 victims worldwide, blocked 31,014 bank accounts, analyzed 152,808 cases, and identified 15,606 suspects beyond those arrested.
