“From my perspective, law enforcement agencies are getting more wins lately,” he added, “which is good news, and the public/private partnerships have proven to be a contributing factor in these efforts. Even in the recent Lockbit takedown where the leader wasn’t able to be arrested, their efforts to damage his reputation resulted in less victims by this group.”

Operation Synergia is only one of several ongoing Interpol projects. In December, it said the fourth phase of Operation Haechi concluded with almost 3,500 arrests and seizures of US$300 million (approx. €273 million) worth of assets across 34 countries and blocked 82,112 suspicious bank accounts. One high-profile online gambling criminal was arrested after a two-year manhunt by Korea’s national police agency. Investment fraud, business email compromise, and e-commerce fraud accounted for 75% of cases investigated in Haechi IV.

Operation Haechi focuses on attacking business email compromise fraud, e-commerce fraud, voice phishing, romance scams, online sextortion, investment fraud, and money laundering associated with online gambling.