Global operation
A Republic of Korea bankrolled, Interpol-coordinated operation has successfully recovered $342m in government-backed currencies after targeting multiple cyber-enabled financial crimes across the globe.
According to an Interpol press release on Wednesday, Operation Haechi VI, which was active April to August, also recovered $97m in physical and virtual assets.
targeted seven variants of cyber crime
Haechi targeted seven variants of cyber crime including romance scams, sextortion, and money laundering linked to illegal online gambling, stated Interpol in the release also shared on X:
The world’s largest police organization blocked more than 68,000 associated bank accounts and froze nearly 400 crypto wallets, extracting approximately $16m in suspected illegal profits from them.
Interpol said Haechi spanned 40 countries and territories, with Portugal, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates singled out for special mention.
Long arm finds pockets
The Lyon, France headquartered Interpol has been fighting organized crime across the world for over a century, and the success of Haechi is testimony to its long reach.
Interpol Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre Director pro tempore, Theos Badege, said it’s a common view that “funds lost to fraud and scams are often irretrievable,” but Haechi proved otherwise.
Badge said the Interpol operation was a “prime example of how global cooperation can protect communities and safeguard financial systems.”
largest single-case recovery in the country to date”
Interpol’s Thailand operation under Haechi led to the Royal Thai Police seizing $6.6m in stolen assets. The “largest single-case recovery in the country to date” involved a gang that tricked a major Japanese firm into transferring funds to a fake Bangkok business partner.
Over in Portugal, Haechi took down a network “diverting funds meant to support vulnerable families.” According to Interpol, authorities arrested 45 people for “illegally accessing social security accounts and altering bank details,” resulting in $270,000 stolen from 531 victims.
Haechi also witnessed the Korean National Police Agency teaming up with Emirati authorities to recover ₩6.6bn ($3.91m) sent to an illegitimate bank account in Dubai after a Korean steel firm raised suspicion that shipping documents had been forged.
Tech power
Interpol added that its stop-payment Global Rapid Intervention of Payments (I-GRIP) technology, launched in 2022, played a leading role in cutting off the proceeds of crime in Dubai.
I-GRIP facilitated speedy communications between Korea and the UAE, which reportedly enabled “the stolen funds to be intercepted and returned in full.”
Interpol’s Seoul National Central Bureau Head Lee Jun Hyeong concluded that the force’s operation “demonstrated the power of unified global action in eradicating cyber-enabled financial crime.”
