Security News > 2022 > June > Interpol seizes $50 million, arrests 2000 social engineers
An international law enforcement operation, codenamed 'First Light 2022,' has seized 50 million dollars and arrested thousands of people involved in social engineering scams worldwide.
The operation was led by Interpol with the assistance of police in 76 countries and focused on social engineering crimes involving telephone deception, romance scams, business email compromise scams, and related money laundering.
The FTC says that people in the US have lost $547 million to romance scams in 2021 and the FBI reports that BEC scams have led to almost $2.4 billion in reported losses.
"As part of Operation First Light 2022, the Singapore Police Force arrested eight suspects linked to Ponzi-like job scams. Scammers would offer high-paying online marketing jobs via social media and messaging systems where victims would initially make small earnings, and subsequently, be required to recruit more members to earn commissions." - Interpol.
While there is massive financial loss related to these scams, there are also life-threatening consequences to social engineering crimes.
Interpol says there is a notable rise in human trafficking on social media platforms, where people are lured with lucrative job offers that lead to forced labor, sexual slavery, or captivity in casinos or fishing vessels.