Key facts
- A 20-year-old controlled a crypto wallet that processed over $122.5 million in 10 months.
- The funds were laundered as part of a romance scam operation.
- Cross-chain swaps were used to obscure the money trail.
- Thai police made two arrests in connection with the scheme.
- The operation, coordinated by Interpol, involved 97 countries and resulted in 5,811 arrests and $293 million in seized assets.
Interpol announced that a 20-year-old individual controlled a cryptocurrency wallet that processed over $122.5 million in illicit funds within a 10-month period as part of a romance scam money laundering operation. Thai authorities, with Interpol's coordination, made two arrests in connection with the scheme.
The operation, dubbed First Light 2026, involved 97 countries and territories and resulted in 5,811 arrests, the interception of $293 million in illicit assets, and the identification of over 142,000 victims. Authorities also blocked over 31,000 bank accounts, utilizing Interpol's payment-freezing system for both fiat and virtual assets.
Romance scams, often referred to as 'pig butchering,' typically involve building trust with victims before directing them to fake cryptocurrency investments. Launderers then use techniques like cross-chain swaps to obscure the movement of funds across different blockchains. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation reported that Americans filed over 181,000 crypto-related scam complaints totalling more than $11 billion in losses in 2025.
Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis noted a surge in crypto scam inflows in 2025, with fraudsters incorporating AI and advanced laundering networks into their operations. Interpol emphasized that combating these transnational criminal networks requires global cooperation, as no single country can remain safe without collective efforts.