The International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) says 5,811 suspects have been arrested over “social engineering scams” during an operation involving 97 countries.
In a statement published on Interpol’s website, the global
policing organisation said the raids, codenamed “Operation First Light 2026”,
were carried out between January 15 and April 30, 2026.
Interpol said the operation “focused on combatting social
engineering scams and associated money laundering activities”.
According to the organisation, the social
engineering-related fraud includes business email compromise, sextortion, and
romance, impersonation, and investment scams.
Interpol said illicit assets worth $293 million were
“intercepted”.
The organisation added that during the operation, 142,000
victims were identified, 152,808 cases were analysed, 31,014 bank accounts were
blocked, 23,715 cases were solved, and 15,606 suspects were identified.
“Operation First Light 2026 (15 Jan 2026 – 30 April 2026),
coordinated by INTERPOL, focused on combatting social engineering scams and
associated money laundering activities,” the statement reads.
“Social engineering is a broad term that refers to
techniques that exploit a person’s trust to obtain money or confidential
information.
“This type of fraud can include business email compromise
and sextortion, as well as romance, impersonation or investment scams.
“After an initial period of intelligence collection and
exchange, participating countries took part in more than three months of
operational activities.
“This included proactive action against high-value targets,
raiding identified premises, blocking or freezing bank accounts and virtual
wallets, requesting INTERPOL Notices and Diffusions and proactively utilising
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.
“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.”
Speaking about the operation, Tomonobu Kaya, director of the
Interpol financial crime and anti-corruption centre, said social engineering
scams continue to pose a significant threat to society.
Kaya said the criminal networks exploit human psychology to
manipulate their targets.
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