Article Details

Police seizes $439 million stolen by cybercrime rings worldwide. In a five-month joint operation led by Interpol, law enforcement agencies have seized more than $439 million in cash and cryptocurrency linked to cyber-enabled financial crimes that impacted thousands of victims worldwide. Codenamed Operation HAECHI VI, it involved authorities from 40 countries and five continents between April and August 2025. HAECHI VI targeted a wide range of criminal activities, from voice phishing, investment fraud, e-commerce fraud, and online sextortion to business email compromise, romance scams, and money laundering linked to illegal online gambling. Throughout this international law enforcement operation, investigators seized 400 cryptocurrency wallets and blocked more than 68,000 associated bank accounts. Other highlights of this joint operation include the arrest of 45 suspects in Portugal for illegally accessing social security accounts and altering bank details as part of a scheme to divert funds meant to support vulnerable families. The Royal Thai Police also seized $6.6 million transferred by a high-profile and yet to be named Japanese corporation into accounts controlled by a transnational organized crime group comprising Thai and West African nationals. "As one of INTERPOL's flagship financial crime operations, HAECHI is a prime example of how global cooperation can protect communities and safeguard financial systems," said Theos Badege, the head of INTERPOL's Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre. "We encourage more member countries to join us in this collective effort, so that meaningful difference can be made in the fight against cyber-enabled crime." During the previous stage of this action (dubbed Operation HAECHI V), which took place between July and November 2024, law enforcement seized an additional $400 million and arrested over 5,500 suspects involved in financial crimes. One year earlier, Operation HAECHI IV resulted in the arrest of more than 3,500 suspects and the seizure of $300 million in illicit proceeds. Since the start of the year, the Interpol has coordinated other joint actions that disrupted global infostealer malware operations, targeted crime rings that created and distributed child sexual abuse content, and cracked down on cross-border cybercriminal networks. Picus Blue Report 2025 is Here: 2X increase in password cracking 46% of environments had passwords cracked, nearly doubling from 25% last year. Get the Picus Blue Report 2025 now for a comprehensive look at more findings on prevention, detection, and data exfiltration trends.