Interpol has just announced a 76-nation operation to crack down on fraud, including telecommunications or scamming fraud, particularly telephone deception, romance scams, e-mail deception, and connected financial crime – see here. The operation has resulted in:
- 1,770 locations raided worldwide
- Some 3,000 suspects identified
- Some 2,000 operators, fraudsters, and money launderers arrested
- Some 4,000 bank accounts frozen
- Some USD 50 million worth of illicit funds intercepted
“The fact that 76 countries were involved in this investigation shows how widespread fraud is across the globe – it’s endemic – so it’s great to see Interpol taking action. However, whilst this investigation is definitely a step in the right direction from Interpol that is likely to have fraudsters worried, it won’t push the needle long term, as even the thousands of arrests and bank account freezes are just a drop in the ocean. Today, it’s telecommunications fraud and romance scams, but fraudsters are cunning and constantly on the lookout for tomorrow’s opportunities. We’re seeing huge amounts of scams targeting new areas, such as Buy Now Pay Later schemes, threat actors using the war in Ukraine as an “in”, and brand impersonation scams which make up 39% of all fraud globally.
“The onus has to be on financial institutions doing their part in being proactive rather than relying on Interpol’s reactive arrests, and making sure that fraudulent payments are not only detected but prevented in real time, using new techniques and tools like machine learning in order to keep up with new methods used by fraudsters. This stops consumers falling victim to a myriad of different fraud attacks, halting them in their tracks before any money is lost.”