INTERPOL has adopted a resolution to address the growing threat posed by transnational scam centers, placing “cryptocurrency scams” among the list of core illicit activities carried out by such organizations.
On November 26, the General Assembly of the International Criminal Police Organization, commonly known as INTERPOL, met in Morocco to approve the resolution, which highlighted the globalization of scam centers, or “criminal hubs,” linked to large-scale fraud, human trafficking, and abuse.
“Often under the pretext of lucrative overseas jobs, victims are trafficked into compounds where they are forced to carry out illicit schemes such as voice phishing, romance scams, investment fraud and cryptocurrency scams targeting individuals worldwide,” said INTERPOL in its press release.
The resolution, proposed by the Republic of Korea, highlighted the increased use of “advanced technologies” by criminals to deceive victims and “mask their operations.” It also highlighted the “highly adaptive nature of these cross-border criminal networks,” which INTERPOL stated requires a coordinated global response.
To meet this growing threat, INTERPOL’s governing body recommended several measures, including real-time intelligence-sharing to identify perpetrators, locations and modi operandi; multinational joint operations supported by INTERPOL; the targeting of criminal financing and illicit assets linked to scam networks; standardized emergency protocols to locate, rescue and repatriate victims; and global awareness campaigns targeting vulnerable groups such as youths and job seekers.
“To effectively counter these criminal networks, we must strengthen collaboration, improve information sharing and move forward with coordinated, decisive action,” said INTERPOL Secretary General Valdecy Urquiza. “INTERPOL is committed to supporting the resolution’s implementation and working with member countries to break these operations apart and protect the people who are most at risk.”
Scams a growing concern
The resolution comes amid a concerning surge in scam activity over the past few years, mainly perpetrated by these international criminal organizations.
INTERPOL first sounded the alarm on scam centers in 2022, issuing a ‘Purple Notice’ that alerted Member Countries to the use of social media recruitment as an emerging modus operandi. In 2023, INTERPOL issued an ‘Orange Notice’ on human trafficking-fueled fraud, warning that the trend represents an alarming and looming threat to public safety.
The international policing organization also stepped up its operations to combat these growing threats. In November 2024, INTERPOL’s largest-ever global operation targeting trafficking-fueled fraud across 116 countries and territories led to the arrest of over 2,500 individuals.
This was followed in December by an operation in Europe targeting cyber-enabled human trafficking that yielded “hundreds of promising leads” and an operation in April 2025 in Africa that resulted in the arrest of two suspected traffickers, as well as the rescue of 33 people from a criminal network that forced victims into exploitative pyramid schemes.
By June this year, INTERPOL’s crime trend update revealed that victims from more than 60 countries had been trafficked into scam centers worldwide, including areas far beyond Southeast Asia. The update also highlighted the increasing sophistication of these diverse criminal operations.
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Romance scams and digital currency
One of the more popular ‘sophisticated’ scams in recent years has been ‘romance’ or ‘pig-butchering’ scams, a type of scheme frequently linked to the digital asset space.
A report published in 2024 by blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis estimated that cybercriminals stole over $12 billion from their victims in 2024. The two most prominent types of scam responsible for this number were High-yield investment scams (HYIS) and so-called pig-butchering, the latter of which recorded the highest growth of any digital currency scam, with revenue growing 40% while individual deposits to scammers’ addresses surged 210%.
Pig butchering relies on a scammer, or a network of scammers masquerading as an individual, developing an online or virtual relationship with the victim—often romantic—and then convincing them to pour more and more money into fraudulent investments.
Earlier this November, a major investigative report from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) put the digital asset sector in the spotlight for its role in helping pig butchering scammers launder their illicit gains.
Over the course of 10 months of reporting, the ICIJ and 37 media partners in 35 countries gathered hundreds of digital currency wallet addresses linked to known illicit activity. The investigation found that money launderers for drug traffickers, Southeast Asian scam center operators, and North Korean hackers used brand-name exchanges to move their funds.
Based on this week’s INTERPOL resolution, it appears that many of the people working on these digital currency-facilitated pig butchering and romance scams may be victims themselves.
“While not everyone working in a scam center is a victim of human trafficking, those who are held against their will frequently endure abuse including physical violence, sexual exploitation, torture and rape,” said INTERPOL.
Having now resolved to an “increased international law enforcement response,” INTERPOL and the member police forces around the world that it advises can intensify work towards better protecting and compensating victims on both sides of the equation—or, ideally, to prevent them from becoming victims in the first place.
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Watch: AI is transforming anti-fraud measures in digital finance
Source: https://coingeek.com/interpol-highlights-globalization-of-digital-asset-scam-centers/
