- 63 suspects arrested in multinational scam takedown
- Millions in cryptocurrency assets seized
- Tech firms disabled millions of fraudulent accounts
Dozens of people have been arrested, and millions of dollars in cryptocurrency seized, in a large-scale, multi-national operation against internet scammers and fraudsters.
On May 18, the US Department of Justice, the FBI, Secret Service, law enforcement agencies in the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Thailand, as well as multiple commercial businesses such as Meta, Coinbase and Starlink, participated in the takedown of a scam network in Southeast Asia.
In a press release published earlier this week, Meta disclosed the details of the operation, saying 63 suspects were arrested, while Coinbase froze more than $3 million in cryptocurrency assets. At the same time, Meta disabled more than 1.4 million accounts, pages, and groups from Facebook and Instagram, while Microsoft suspended roughly 20,000 fraudulent accounts linked to the scam network.
Identifying more scams
Meta said the intelligence shared between these companies and agencies led to the identification of “many potentially new scam center locations and networks”, which were referred to law enforcement. Starlink participated by terminating connectivity for thousands of kits that were attributed to unlawful use.
The announcement did not say what the nature of the scam was, or if the group had a name or any hierarchy. Scams involving cryptocurrency are usually romance or investment scams (or a combination). Users are enticed to “invest” into fraudulent platforms, under the promise of enormous financial gains. Romance scams work similarly, tricking victims into believing they are “investing” with a future significant other.
Sometimes, scammers engage in so-called “pig butchering” scams, gradually cultivating relationships with victims before persuading them to transfer funds to fraudulent cryptocurrency platforms. Even when the victims realize that they cannot withdraw, the scammers remain in character, posing as customer support, and promising the victim the release of the funds if they pay “tax” or “withdrawal fee”.
