Interpol's Operation First Light, a coordinated crackdown spanning 97 countries, resulted in 5,811 arrests and the interception of $293 million linked to social engineering and romance scams. Among those detained were two suspects in Thailand, including a 20-year-old whose crypto wallet allegedly moved $123 million in illicit proceeds from romance-scam operations. Romance scams typically involve fraudsters building fake relationships online to manipulate victims into sending money, often laundered through cryptocurrency to obscure the trail. The operation highlights how digital assets are increasingly used to move funds tied to these schemes across borders. Law enforcement agencies worldwide are intensifying efforts to trace blockchain transactions and dismantle the networks facilitating such fraud. The scale of the seizures and arrests underscores both the growing prevalence of these scams and the international cooperation now being marshaled to combat them.
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