A sweeping INTERPOL-led crackdown on online fraud and financial crime has resulted in 5,811 arrests worldwide and the recovery or freezing of approximately $293 million in illicit assets.

The operation, codenamed First Light 2026, brought together law enforcement agencies from 97 countries and territories in a coordinated assault on social engineering scams and the money laundering networks that sustain them.

Authorities focused on schemes such as business email compromise, sextortion, romance and investment scams, as well as impersonation fraud in which criminals pose as officials, bank staff or company executives to trick victims into handing over money or sensitive data.

After an initial phase of intelligence sharing and analysis, police forces launched more than three months of synchronized enforcement actions. These included raids on suspected scam centres, the blocking and freezing of bank accounts and cryptocurrency wallets, and the use of INTERPOL’s Global Rapid Intervention of Payments system to stop suspicious transfers in real time.

INTERPOL reported that more than 142,000 victims were identified globally, highlighting the vast reach of social engineering fraud and its impact on individuals, companies and public institutions. Investigators analysed 152,808 cases, blocked 31,014 bank accounts, resolved 23,715 cases and identified 15,606 suspects. Ninety-nine INTERPOL Notices and Diffusions were issued to help track fugitives and alert member countries.

Tomonobu Kaya, Director of INTERPOL’s Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre, said social engineering scams remain one of the fastest-growing global threats, stressing that criminal syndicates systematically exploit human psychology and that no country can counter the threat in isolation.

Among the most striking cases was in Eswatini, where 82 suspects were arrested over an illegal online gambling and impersonation network. Police seized 240 electronic devices, foreign currencies and even a replica of a Brazilian police station, complete with fake uniforms and equipment allegedly used to convince victims they were dealing with genuine law enforcement.

In Thailand, officers dismantled a romance scam and cryptocurrency laundering ring, discovering that one suspect’s digital wallet had processed more than $122.5 million in illicit transactions in less than a year. Authorities in Singapore and Oman jointly blocked a $6.6 million fraudulent transfer targeting a commodity trading firm, while police in Macao stopped a victim from sending nearly $372,000 to scammers posing as public officials. In Palau, 22 alleged members of scam centres operating from hotels and running cryptocurrency and illegal gambling schemes were deported.

INTERPOL said Operation First Light 2026 demonstrates that only sustained, cross-border cooperation can keep pace with increasingly sophisticated cyber-enabled financial crime and disrupt the networks behind it.