Security News > 2021 > May > Interpol intercepts $83 million fighting financial cyber crime
The Interpol has intercepted $83 million belonging to victims of online financial crime from being transferred to the accounts of their attackers.
Between September 2020 and March 2021, law enforcement focused on battling five types of online financial crimes: investment fraud, romance scams, money laundering associated with illegal online gambling, online sextortion, and voice phishing.
Five hundred eighty-five arrests were made worldwide, and more than 1,600 bank accounts belonging to perpetrators of cyber-enabled financial crime were frozen.
Online financial crime is fundamentally global and fraudsters attempt to exploit the borderless nature of the Internet by targeting victims in other countries or transferring their illicit funds abroad, explains INTERPOL Director of Organized and Emerging Crime Ilana de Wild.
"The results of Operation HAECHI-I demonstrate that online financial crime is fundamentally global and that only through close international cooperation can we effectively combat these criminals."
Last year, Interpol also advised victims of online financial scams to immediately take action to intercept stolen funds before their money reached the scammers' bank accounts.