A sweeping anti-scam operation led by Meta and backed by the FBI, Department of Justice, Microsoft, Coinbase and Starlink resulted in 63 arrests, millions of dollars in frozen cryptocurrency and the removal of more than a million scam-related online accounts, officials announced Tuesday.Meta said the operation was the company’s largest anti-scam operation to date and described it as the first coordinated anti-scam effort of its kind for the company to bring together major technology companies, financial platforms and law enforcement agencies to target the broader fraud ecosystem.The two-week operation began May 18 and brought together the DOJ’s Scam Center Strike Force — led by U.S.Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Ferris Pirro — along with the FBI, the Royal Thai Police, Microsoft, Coinbase, Starlink and other international law enforcement partners.The effort spanned Washington, D.C., and Thailand and also included the U.S.
Secret Service and law enforcement agencies from the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Thailand.GLOBAL SCAM CRACKDOWN LEADS TO 276 ARRESTSThai authorities arrested 63 people allegedly connected to scam centers during a multinational crackdown targeting fraud networks that prey on Americans.(Meta)The operation targeted criminal scam networks that authorities say steal billions of dollars from Americans each year through romance scams, cryptocurrency investment fraud and other fraudulent schemes.
Officials said many of the organizations operate from forced-labor compounds in Southeast Asia linked to transnational organized crime groups.Authorities have also warned that some people working inside Southeast Asian scam compounds are trafficking victims coerced into carrying out fraud, while law enforcement efforts have focused on alleged organizers, recruiters, money launderers and network operators."Protecting people around the world from scams is one of our highest priorities," Chris Sonderby, Meta’s vice pr...