Pierluigi Paganini
September 25, 2025
Interpol announced that an international law enforcement operation, codenamed Operation HAECHI VI, resulted in the seizure of $439M in cash and crypto from cybercrime rings between April and August 2025. Authorities from 40 countries joint to the operation.
“An INTERPOL-coordinated operation across 40 countries and territories has resulted in the recovery of USD 342 million in government-backed currencies, along with USD 97 million in physical and virtual assets.” reads the press release published by Interpol.
“Operation HAECHI VI (April – August 2025), targeted seven types of cyber-enabled financial crimes: voice phishing, romance scams, online sextortion, investment fraud, money laundering associated with illegal online gambling, business email compromise and e-commerce fraud.”
Operation HAECHI VI blocked 68,000 bank accounts, froze 400 crypto wallets, and recovered $16M in illicit crypto profits.
In Portugal, police broke up a large syndicate that stole €228,000 from 531 vulnerable families by hacking social security accounts and altering bank details, arresting 45 suspects. In Thailand, police seized $6.6M from a transnational crime group of Thai and West African nationals who tricked a Japanese firm in a major BEC scam. Meanwhile, Korea and the UAE recovered $3.91M stolen from a steel company thanks to INTERPOL’s I-GRIP stop-payment system, which blocked the transfer after forged shipping documents surfaced.
“While many people believe that funds lost to fraud and scams are often irretrievable, the outcomes of HAECHI operations demonstrate that recovery is indeed possible. As one of INTERPOL’s flagship financial crime operations, HAECHI is a prime example of how global cooperation can protect communities and safeguard financial systems.” Theos Badege, Director pro tempore of INTERPOL’s Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre said. “We encourage more member countries to join us in this collective effort, so that meaningful difference can be made in the fight against cyber-enabled crime.”
In December 2024, the previous round of the same law enforcement operation, codenamed Operation HAECHI-V, led to more than 5,500 suspects arrested and the seizure of over $400 million.
Operation HAECHI V (July-Nov 2024) targeted cyber frauds like phishing, romance scams, sextortion, investment fraud, online gambling, BEC, and e-commerce fraud.
Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook and Mastodon
(SecurityAffairs – hacking, Interpol)
Hacking / September 25, 2025
