Interpol has announced the arrest of 5,811 people and the interception of $293 million in illicit assets following a global operation targeting online fraud, money laundering and criminal networks linked to illegal gambling.
Operation First Light 2026 ran from 15 January to 30 April and involved law enforcement agencies across 97 countries and territories. After an initial intelligence-sharing phase, authorities spent more than three months raiding suspected criminal premises, targeting high-value suspects and freezing bank accounts and cryptocurrency wallets.
The operation focused primarily on social engineering, a form of fraud that manipulates victims into surrendering money or sensitive information. The schemes investigated included romance and investment fraud, business email compromise, sextortion and the impersonation of companies or public officials.
According to Interpol’s official report, investigators identified more than 142,000 victims and examined 152,808 cases. Authorities solved 23,715 cases, blocked 31,014 bank accounts and identified another 15,606 suspects. A total of 99 Interpol Notices and Diffusions were also issued.
Illegal online gambling appeared in several of the cases highlighted by the international policing organisation.
In Eswatini, authorities arrested 82 people accused of participating in a network that combined unlicensed online gambling, money laundering and impersonation fraud. Officers confiscated foreign currency and 240 electronic devices, while also discovering a detailed replica of a Brazilian police station equipped with counterfeit uniforms, signs and other official-looking material.
Members of the network allegedly posed as Brazilian Federal Police officers during video calls. Victims were told they had become involved in criminal investigations and were instructed to transfer their money into supposedly secure accounts. The funds were then stolen.
Interpol deployed a specialist support team to Eswatini to assist with the forensic examination of the large volume of digital evidence seized during the raids.
Another gambling-related case emerged in Palau, where authorities deported 22 people linked to two interconnected scam centres operating from hotels. The groups allegedly used cryptocurrency, illegal gambling websites and other online fraud schemes to target victims in foreign jurisdictions.
Elsewhere, police in Thailand made two arrests while investigating a laundering operation that converted proceeds from romance scams into several cryptocurrencies. The suspects allegedly used cross-chain token swaps to make the money more difficult to trace. One wallet controlled by a 20-year-old suspect had processed more than $122.5 million over a ten-month period.
Authorities in Singapore and Oman also used Interpol’s Global Rapid Intervention of Payments system to stop a fraudulent transfer worth $6.6 million. Criminals had impersonated a supplier to deceive a Singapore-based commodities company.
In Macao, an anti-fraud awareness event unexpectedly helped officers identify a participant who was in the middle of being manipulated by scammers posing as officials. Police intervened before the person transferred almost $372,000.
The 2026 campaign was considerably larger than Operation First Light 2024, which involved 61 countries, produced almost 4,000 arrests and led to the seizure of assets valued at $257 million.
Interpol’s latest financial fraud assessment estimates that global losses from financial fraud reached $442 billion in 2025. It also reports a 54% increase in fraud-related Notices and Diffusions since 2024, underlining the rapid expansion of cyber-enabled crime across national borders.
Operation First Light is funded by China’s Ministry of Public Security and supported by ASEANAPOL, GCCPOL and Europol. Interpol said the results demonstrate how illegal gambling platforms increasingly form part of broader criminal structures that combine digital fraud, cryptocurrency transfers and cross-border money laundering.