In a coordinated quest, Interpol has arrested about 1,003 individuals in a special mission conducted in 20 countries.
Spanning over a course of 4 months, the operation named HAEICHI-II intercepted about 27 million from flowing into malicious bank accounts and froze over 2,350 of them. They stated that cybercrime is evolving in new aspects every day, based on nature outside.
Operation HAEICHI-II
After the success of HAEICHI-I earlier this year, with over 500 arrests and intercepting $83 million, Interpol has now cracked on more cybercriminals in its succeeding operation. Named the HAEICHI-II, the coordinated operation spanned over four months from June to September this year.
The police have arrested about 1,003 individuals linked to various cyber crimes like romance scams, investment frauds, online money laundering, and illegal online gambling.
The operation was conducted in twenty countries, namely Angola, Brunei, Cambodia, Colombia, China, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, South Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Philippines, Romania, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Online financial crime has evolved into a global threat. Here's how we're fighting back ⬇️
A 20-country operation coordinated by INTERPOL has led to 1,000 arrests & $27 million in illicit funds intercepted ????
Read the full story on Operation HAECHI-II ➡️ https://t.co/zB9OK4XyxJ
— INTERPOL (@INTERPOL_HQ) November 26, 2021
Over the course, Interpol has intercepted over $27 million this time. Few mentionable operations include saving a Colombian textiles company from bankruptcy. The textile company was tricked by a Business Email Compromise attack, where the threat actor impersonated a legal representative belonging to the company and asked for payment worth $16 million.
This was supposed to be sent in two equal installments to a distant Chinese bank account. After learning about the campaign, Interpol has recovered about 94% of the stolen money in this case. Another includes a Slovenian firm being deceived into transferring an $800,000 sum to mule accounts in China.
At last, Interpol said attackers are leveraging the popular Netflix show – Squid Game for their campaigns too. They spotted trojan-infected apps based on Squid Game theme, which were subscribing users to premium services for hefty bills.
