A global law enforcement operation has disrupted greater than $62 million CAD in cryptocurrency fraud and frozen thousands and thousands in stolen funds, authorities said Thursday.
Dubbed Operation Atlantic, the week-long campaign involved agencies from Canada, the US and the UK, targeting so-called “approval phishing” scams.
Investigators identified greater than 20,000 cryptocurrency wallet addresses linked to victims across greater than 30 countries, including Canada, the U.S. and the U.K.
Officials said over $16 million CAD in stolen funds has been frozen with the aim of returning it to victims, while an extra $45 million CAD believed to be tied to investment fraud schemes stays under investigation.
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The operation also disrupted greater than 120 web domains allegedly utilized by scammers.
“Through Operation Atlantic, investigators were capable of disrupt fraud in progress and freeze thousands and thousands of dollars linked to approval‑phishing schemes,” said Detective Superintendent Jennifer Spurrell, Director of Financial Crimes Services with the Ontario Provincial Police.
Approval phishing scams typically involve fraudsters sending fake alerts or pop-ups that appear to return from trusted platforms, tricking users into granting access to their cryptocurrency wallets.
Once access is approved, criminals can transfer funds, often making recovery difficult or not possible.
If someone believes they’re a victim of the sort of fraud, they’re asked to contact authorities.
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