- Interpol’s Operation Synergia III dismantles global cybercrime networks
- 94 arrests, 45,000+ malicious servers and IPs removed
- The crackdown spanned 72 countries and targeted scams from phishing to loan fraud
Nearly 100 people were arrested and thousands of servers taken down in a multi-month international law enforcement operation, Interpol announced.
In a press release shared late last week, the international police force said it coordinated Operation Synergia III, which started in mid-July last year and ended in late January this year. During that time, police forces from 72 countries raided key locations, seized electronic devices and arrested people.
A total of 94 people were arrested, with a further 110 people “under investigation”. More than 45,000 malicious IP addresses and servers were taken down and 212 electronic devices were seized.
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China, Bangladesh, Togo
“Cybercrime in 2026 is more sophisticated and destructive than ever before, but Operation Synergia III stands as a powerful testament to what global cooperation can achieve. INTERPOL remains at the forefront of this battle, uniting law enforcement agencies and private sector experts to dismantle criminal networks, disrupt emerging threats and protect future threats around the world,” INTERPOL said. Director of the Directorate for Cybercrime.
The stay was aimed at different fraud operations in different places. For example, law enforcement in China identified more than 33,000 phishing and fake websites, related to fake casinos and critical infrastructure (payment services, banks, government websites).
In Togo, police arrested 10 people for hacking social media accounts, social engineering schemes, romance scams and sextortion, and in Bangladesh 40 were arrested for loan fraud, job fraud, ID theft and credit card fraud.
In addition to a wide range of national police forces, Interpol also said that a few private organizations also participated, including Group-IB, Trend Micro and S2W.
It’s been a tough few weeks for cybercriminals as Tycoon 2FA, one of the largest phishing-as-a-service (PhaaS) platforms in the world, was also taken down following a global coordinated law enforcement operation. This operation was led by Europol and involved police forces from Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom.
It successfully dismantled a phishing operation that was active since at least August 2023 and allowed thousands of cybercriminals to gain access to email and cloud-based service accounts.
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