Interpol Conducted Operation HAECHI III and Seized $130 Million from Cybercriminals

As part of Operation HAECHI III, which lasted from June to November 2022, Interpol seized $130,000,000 in cash and virtual assets. All of these funds are associated with various cybercrimes and money laundering operations.

The official press release states that Operation HAECHI III allowed Interpol to arrest nearly a thousand suspects. The following countries took part in the operation: Australia, Austria, Brunei, Cambodia, Ivory Coast, France, Ghana, Hong Kong (China), India, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Nigeria, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, UK, USA.

The types of cybercrime involved in these arrests and seizures include romantic scams, voice phishing, “sexual extortion“, investment fraud, and money laundering, associated with illegal gambling on the Internet.

It is also emphasized that as a result of this operation, Interpol discovered 16 new cybercrime trends, which in the future will help law enforcement agencies around the world to more effectively deal with intruders.

Detention of scammers in South Korea

The two main aspects of this operation were:

1. the arrest of two South Korean citizens in Greece and Italy who stole $29,100,000 from 2,000 victims;
2. the arrest of members of an Indian-based criminal group posing as Interpol employees and calling victims;
3. the scammers tricked the victims into giving them $159,000 in cryptocurrencies.