More than 900 arrested in massive scam crackdown

A cross-border operation involving 30 countries across five continents has seen more than 900 arrests and raids on close to 30 fraud centres.

Led by the United Arab Emirates' Ministry of Interior, Operation Confrontation Ghost teamed up with law enforcement authories, Interpol, the Global Anti-Scam Alliance and 13 private sector groups such as Meta, TikTok, Mastercard and Huawei to tackle issues such as cross-

border digital fraud and sextortion.

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Over a three month period, the operation identified more than 15,500 victims and more than 3,500 suspects across multiple countries, leading to 960 arrests and raids on 29 fraud centres.

More than 570 social media accounts used to manipulate victims were shut down, as were more than 4,100 bank accounts linked to fraud.

The three focuses of the operation between July and September 2026 were identified as some of the fastest-growing threats in the digital space: AI-enabled fraud, digital financial fraud, and technology-facilitated sextortion, a crime that often targets children and teenagers and leaves families facing lasting harm.

The reason for the unified response between so many countries is because criminal networks have used countries' borders as a shield.

By teaming up, more than 9,000 pieces of intelligence was shared to map out criminal methods and learn how scam networks would con victims and launder money across borders.

Of the 30 countries involved, two were China and Myanmar - significant because earlier this month, three men were sentenced to death by a court in China for their involvement in the operation of scam centres in Myanmar.

One country missing from the list of nations is Cambodia, which has been criticised in the past for its response to the rise of scam compounds in its country and how it deals with accusations of violence, torture and rape within these facilities - however recently, Cambodia made an agreement with the United Kingdom to accept training in how to conduct cyber investigations and digital forensics.

The countries involved in Operation Confrontation Ghost were: United Arab Emirates, Philippines, Canada, Norway, Japan, United Kingdom, Ecuador, Romania, Kuwait, Nepal, Uzbekistan, Denmark, Myanmar, Brazil, Jordan, Italy, Maldives, Singapore, Sweden, China, Senegal, France, Bahrain, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, Slovakia, Kenya, Morocco, Netherlands, and the Republic of Korea

Source: PR Newswire

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