INTERPOL arrests 58 in global crackdown on crypto and romance scams

INTERPOL has concluded ‘Operation Jackal IV’, an eight-month international crackdown targeting West African organized crime networks involved in cryptocurrency investment scams, romance fraud, and money laundering. The operation, which spanned 22 countries across six continents between November 2025 and June 2026, resulted in 58 arrests and the identification of 263 suspects.

In South Africa, authorities arrested 39 individuals linked to scams targeting retirees, seizing $2.67 million and freezing 257 bank accounts. Romanian police dismantled a call-center-style investment fraud ring, arresting 11 people and seizing cash, cryptocurrency, and real estate. In Argentina, investigators targeted ‘crime-as-a-service’ networks that provide technical and financial infrastructure to criminal groups.

INTERPOL officials noted that cryptocurrency is frequently used as a tool to facilitate investment fraud and obscure the movement of stolen funds through digital wallets and remittance services. Tomonobu Kaya, director of the INTERPOL Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre, stated that by tracking these illicit flows, authorities are attacking the ‘lifeblood of organized crime’.