Over 20,000 crypto fraud victims identified in international crackdown
An international law enforcement action led by the U.K.’s National Crime Agency (NCA) has identified over 20,000 victims of cryptocurrency fraud across Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Dubbed “Operation Atlantic,” this joint action took place last month, and it involved the NCA, the U.S. Secret Service, the Ontario Provincial Police, the Ontario Securities Commission, and multiple private industry partners.
“The NCA hosted law enforcement agencies at their London HQ and through real time intelligence sharing, technical capabilities and victim outreach, multiple fraud networks were disrupted across the world,” the NCA said. “City of London Police, Financial Conduct Authority and other international law enforcement bodies also joined the weeklong action.”
The investigators have also frozen more than $12 million in suspected criminal proceeds obtained through “approval phishing” attacks, in which scammers trick victims into granting them access to their cryptocurrency wallets, typically via investment scams. They also identified more than $45 million in stolen cryptocurrency connected to fraud schemes worldwide.
Officials said the public-private partnership model used in Operation Atlantic will be a core element of the U.K. government’s recently announced Fraud Strategy, which connects industry data and law enforcement expertise to enable fraud prevention.
“Operation Atlantic is a powerful example of what is possible when international agencies and private industry work side by side,” added Miles Bonfield, NCA Deputy Director of Investigations.
“This intensive action has led to the safeguarding of thousands of victims in the UK and overseas, stopped criminals in their tracks and helped save others from losing their funds.”
The NCA added that, together with law enforcement and private-sector partners, it will continue to analyze intelligence gathered during this joint action to support other victims and pursue potential criminal activity.
Since January 2024, the FBI has also identified more than 8,000 victims of cryptocurrency investment fraud (also known as pig butchering) with support from the U.S. Secret Service, as part of Operation Level Up. The FBI said that roughly 77% of those victims were unaware they were being scammed and that the estimated savings to victims is $511,511,288.
In its 2025 Internet Crime Report, the FBI said it received 61,559 complaints of cryptocurrency investment fraud last year, linked to $7.228 billion in losses and representing a massive 48% increase in complaints and a 25% increase in losses from 2024.
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