Agencies in S’pore among dozens involved in Interpol anti-fraud operation

Law enforcement agencies in Singapore, including the police, were involved in a global anti-fraud operation that led to the arrest of 5,811 individuals and the interception of US$293 million ($378 million) in illicit assets.

More than 142,000 victims globally were identified during Operation First Light 2026, conducted between January and April.

Interpol on July 9 said: “(The) authorities in Singapore and Oman utilised I-GRIP to block a US$6.6 million illicit transfer linked to a business e-mail compromise scam.“In this case, a Singapore-based commodity trading firm was targeted by criminals impersonating a supplier.”

I-GRIP is a system Interpol employs to block illicit financial flows of both fiat currencies, such as the US dollar, and virtual assets.

The international police organisation said the operation involved an initial period of intelligence collection and exchange.

The operation focused on social engineering scams and fraud, which Interpol said have escalated into a major transnational threat, affecting individuals, businesses and governments.

Tomonobu Kaya, director of the organisation’s financial crime and anti-corruption centre, said social engineering scams – such as business e-mail compromise, sextortion, and romance, impersonation or investment scams – exploit a person’s trust to obtain money or confidential information.

Interpol said three regional police bodies from South-east Asia, Europe and the Middle East were involved in the operation, which was funded by China’s Ministry of Public Security.

In total, police officers from 97 jurisdictions analysed over 152,000 cases, blocked more than 31,000 bank accounts and solved about 23,700 cases. They also identified more than 15,000 suspects.

-The Strait Times