Global crypto scam crackdown freezes $12M and exposes 20,000 victims
During an international operation, the National Crime Agency (NCA), the US Secret Service, the Ontario Provincial Police, and the Ontario Securities Commission identified thousands of victims of “approval phishing.”
Image by Dado Ruvic | Reuters
During an international operation, the National Crime Agency (NCA), the US Secret Service, the Ontario Provincial Police, and the Ontario Securities Commission identified thousands of victims of “approval phishing.”
Approval phishing is a scam designed to trick gullible people into unknowingly granting full access to their cryptocurrency wallets.
Victims receive a fraudulent request to approve access to their wallet. The request appears to come from a trusted source, but in reality is delivered via compromised links or emails. By clicking the approve link, a victim unknowingly hands over control of their wallet to a scammer.
The scammer then transfers the victim’s crypto into another wallet in an attempt to avoid detection and hinder tracing.
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During a week-long campaign dubbed Operation Atlantic, law enforcement authorities from Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States identified over $45 million in cryptocurrency fraud schemes around the globe.
In addition, officers found more than 20,000 cryptocurrency wallet addresses linked to fraud victims across more than 30 countries. So far, a total of $12 million in suspected criminal proceeds has been taken and will be returned to the victims.
Lastly, law enforcement agencies identified and disrupted over 120 web domains used by scammers to conduct fraudulent schemes.
“Operation Atlantic is a powerful example of what is possible when international agencies and private industry work side by side,” Miles Bonfield, Deputy Director of Investigations at the UK’s National Crime Agency, said in a statement.
“This intensive action has led to the safeguarding of thousands of victims in the UK and overseas, stopped criminals in their tracks, and helped save others from losing their funds. We know that fraudsters operate globally and, together with our international partners, so will the NCA to target them wherever they are based,” he continues.
Brent Daniels, the Assistant Director for the US Secret Service’s Office of Field Operations, says that the law enforcement operation demonstrated the importance and need for international collaboration to stop cryptocurrency fraud.
“Through this operation, investigators prevented millions of dollars in fraud losses and disrupted millions more in fraudulent transactions, denying criminals the ability to prey on innocent victims. I am extremely proud of the hard work of everyone involved during this operation,” he stated.
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