International Law Enforcement Operation Seeks to Disrupt Crypto Fraud

[Mhizlove]

Could any kind of fraud activities in crypto or other aspects of Life be avoided completely?

I don't think so this is possible, every agency under the government should work in tandem to ensure that fraud is disallowed and the level is minimized to the least, fraud is just about being contemptuous with acquiring illegal things and this should be what every one of us should see as a challenge until we fight it and see that all are safe.

For me I don't think fraud will just go into extinction  as long as there is opportunities and especially when is money that is involve people will always find a way to still cheat but what can be done it's to find a way and reduce it through solid system, giving awareness to the people and also law enforcement not only this, if the people are wise enough and very careful I think those scammers or fraudsters will find it hard to manipulate or succeed in whatever they're doing

So the thing that will help is a collective effort from government, individuals because everyone has a bigger role to play to make the system strong and keep things safe

[Jubilee58]

The level of cryptocurrency scam is absolutely very high in recent time more especially Bitcoin that has grown so massive in value, and is attracting so much interest from institutions, countries, and individuals, and many cryptocurrency investors have become victims, and vulnerable to this scammers.
I think the international law enforcement operation on cryptocurrency is a very good initiative as it is geared towards protecting investors who are vulnerable to phishing attacks. I would say Kudos to this agency formed in the United States because cryptocurrency investors, and even exchanges have suffered huge loss because of the activities of these scammers, and whoever that is caught should be dealt with decisively. Furthermore , like you also mentioned, education is power, enlightenment campaign, and sensitization on the safety of cryptocurrency asset is very important, so while this constituted agency is doing their job, educating the citizens on the safety of their investment will also be a great advantage to reduce cryptocurrency scam to some reasonable extent.

[Justbillywitt]

Don’t be surprised when you start hearing complains about this operation. Scammers like exploring opportunities that they come across. Scammers will start disguising as operatives of this agency that is setup that aim to capture scammers and recover stolen funds. Scammers will start impersonating them to lure unsuspecting victims into to providing their details in order to help them recover their stolen funds. I wish the newly formed agency well in their efforts to curb scamming activities. I like your idea of educating people about the operations of these scammers so they know how to detect suspicious activities that might cause them financial harm.

[Porfirii]

Don’t be surprised when you start hearing complains about this operation. Scammers like exploring opportunities that they come across. Scammers will start disguising as operatives of this agency that is setup that aim to capture scammers and recover stolen funds. Scammers will start impersonating them to lure unsuspecting victims into to providing their details in order to help them recover their stolen funds.

Don't give them ideas, let them have to think a little for themselves... 

I wish the newly formed agency well in their efforts to curb scamming activities. I like your idea of educating people about the operations of these scammers so they know how to detect suspicious activities that might cause them financial harm.

Every educational effort will have been well invested. But I also have doubts about the effectiveness of recoveries and the ability to operate in real time. In any case, I believe that we are getting ahead of ourselves by prejudging their work. We will have to see first how well or badly they do it.

[Aanuoluwatofunmi]

Don’t be surprised when you start hearing complains about this operation. Scammers like exploring opportunities that they come across. Scammers will start disguising as operatives of this agency that is setup that aim to capture scammers and recover stolen funds. Scammers will start impersonating them to lure unsuspecting victims into to providing their details in order to help them recover their stolen funds.

What are expect the government to be doing is to create more awareness on how they could expose people that are into cryptocurrency to the danger of being scam, educating on the necessary steps to take in order to avoid getting scam or hacked, scammers are very tactical when it comes to using a strategy that good convince their victim to trust them and before you know it they are already far ahead, the issue of impersonating is getting out of hands and they can do this by any means both online and offline just to achieve their aim.

[Mpamaegbu]

Well what I hoped for is quite different from what others wanted, how about they should start sending the money back to the victims of phishing after they get the funds instead of turning the stolen funds into the government properties?

That should be a good route to take but we know government won't want that. Sometimes, even the government is a part of the scheme. We saw what Trump and family did with their shitcoins and today they're freely walking the streets with nothing hanging on their necks.

Returning phished coins to their originating wallets would be a way to show seriousness in all that besides regulations.

*} Make crypto space a safer haven by regulating every single tokens out there.

I guess a lot more people are beginning to see the sense in regulating the crypto industry despite the fact that we're going to lose our privacy somehow in the process. I'm in for it.

[EarnOnVictor]

This may not be so recent, but I believe is still valid, and the international operations are good steps in stopping scammers. And you are right about the education, as education is the best way to go. Law enforcement can only do so much, so keeping ourselves educated is still our best defence against these crypto scams.

I only wish people would stop being gullible, but instead, be self-aware.

Don’t be surprised when you start hearing complains about this operation. Scammers like exploring opportunities that they come across. Scammers will start disguising as operatives of this agency that is setup that aim to capture scammers and recover stolen funds. Scammers will start impersonating them to lure unsuspecting victims into to providing their details in order to help them recover their stolen funds. I wish the newly formed agency well in their efforts to curb scamming activities. I like your idea of educating people about the operations of these scammers so they know how to detect suspicious activities that might cause them financial harm.

True, scammers love impersonating law enforcement to steal funds. They send fake messages pretending to be agents trying to help, then trick the victims into signing malicious transactions or look for ways of letting them expose their sensitive info. Many other vices too.

[Ishicryptic]

I hope this would help but I still think there is nothing better than educating the people. Prevention is better than cure but the bad side is that some people are not ready to learn until they are scammed. This can not completely eliminate crypto phishing and investment scam but I think it will help to some extent.

What do you think about this?

Where crime prevails and people get to benefit from big in it, don’t just assume those criminals are mere ones. As you’re upping your security system to stop them from earning through this scam methods, they’re also trying to look for ways to better their strategy to disrupt your counter strategy on them. It may end up being a war between them and a challenge to do better and better one’s security system. This I know will further mitigate how these scammers get to benefit from these scams, but I’m convinced enough that it won’t completely eliminate it. Like the OP said, some people will be scammed before they take on preventive measures next time.

It is not possible to totally eliminate crime, as security measures are getting upgraded likewise scammers would be upgrading themselves to counter the progress made to prevent them from scamming people, still we have to appreciate any genuine efforts made by any government to fight crime. The best a government agency or NGO that is geared towards preventing cybercrime and helping victims to try and recover stolen funds can do is to focus more on sensitization about the dangers of being ignorant, if people knows how not to be scammed I believe it would solve 80% of the problem. Although no matter the level of cybercrime awareness some people will still fall victim, if they cannot learn from their mistakes they will keep losing money to cybercrime.

[Perfectbaby]

I hope this would help but I still think there is nothing better than educating the people. Prevention is better than cure but the bad side is that some people are not ready to learn until they are scammed. This can not completely eliminate crypto phishing and investment scam but I think it will help to some extent.

What do you think about this?

As far as I know there is no way to completely eliminate fraud or hack in cryptocurrency because that is being tied to real money and when sold or converted they would be definitely getting the equivalent to the preferred fiat they need. In even on our local currencies there are still no way to completely eliminate how people often fall into fraud or becoming a victim or hack around the space. Instead there will be a way to sanitize people and give them proper orientation regarding to their security and they hacker do launch attack or some phishing sites to people to click and become automatically victims of it.

[Alonso_]

I hope this would help but I still think there is nothing better than educating the people. Prevention is better than cure but the bad side is that some people are not ready to learn until they are scammed. This can not completely eliminate crypto phishing and investment scam but I think it will help to some extent.

What do you think about this?

As far as I know there is no way to completely eliminate fraud or hack in cryptocurrency because that is being tied to real money and when sold or converted they would be definitely getting the equivalent to the preferred fiat they need. In even on our local currencies there are still no way to completely eliminate how people often fall into fraud or becoming a victim or hack around the space. Instead there will be a way to sanitize people and give them proper orientation regarding to their security and they hacker do launch attack or some phishing sites to people to click and become automatically victims of it.

Personally, I don’t think any measures that are provided can totally eradicate fraud in the cryptocurrency sector, this things happens everyday, there are people who works in the local banks who are responsible for this fraud too in local banks, people also fall for romance scam and fraud because they’re meet someone on the internet and probably fall in love and trust them, they will eventually end up getting scammed, how can you really help people in this situation, is by creating awareness to romance scam, 95% percent of people you meet on the internet are fakes and looking for people to scam and fraud people, probably because they’re not aware of this kind of scams they fall victim, there are people who are still aware of romance scam but they still end up falling for their scam and end of loosing all there money or cryptocurrency, there are also hackers who are doing everything possible to hack someone’s account or steal their cryptocurrency or bitcoin, so I think the Government agencies can only try to stop it by creating awareness, but not totally eradicate this kind of fraudulent methods.

[NotATether]

Somebody apparently bumped this for no good reason... but am I the only one who thinks this method makes no sense?

WASHINGTON – This week, law enforcement agencies from the United States, United Kingdom and Canada are conducting Operation Atlantic, a joint international law enforcement initiative focused on identifying victims who may have lost - or are at risk of losing - crypto assets through "approval phishing,” which is often linked to cryptocurrency investment scams.

What the heck is "approval phishing"? I'm so confused here. Are they talking about people coercing the victims on messaging platforms, or e.g. phishing websites?

This announcement was so vague, and looking back, I don't think it really helped with anything.

[Lontor]

They are trying to fix what's not needy, if they want to wash this crypto space clean they should start with crypto projects Devs, they are the real scammers of this space.

Imagine having something to give people all in the name of project just to make yourself look clean and legit but underground you are milking from your investors, you guys see what happened to Pulse chain owner?

Developers needs to be under some type of heavy monitoring, they are the reason why crypto space lacks big trust like what we had in 2016, all hopes are up at the time, people believed, they have high hopes but today it's no more the same.

[Curious T]

It would be interesting to see how they stop a scam where the victim clicks links and grants access to the scammer in real time. I don't doubt that they can think of ways to limit how scammers can gain access to people's wallets or steal from people, but doing it in real time is a different thing. I must be honest, I am very skeptical of that promise.

I only wish people would stop being gullible, but instead, be self-aware.

This is the best solution, actually. No matter how greatly crafted a scam is, it requires the victim to do something stupid before it can be successful. If people stop being gullible and informed, the rate of scams will drop drastically.

[RGBTC]

What the heck is "approval phishing"? I'm so confused here. Are they talking about people coercing the victims on messaging platforms, or e.g. phishing websites?

One of them is like that.In short it's another term for a type of pig butchering scam.

Imagine having something to give people all in the name of project just to make yourself look clean and legit but underground you are milking from your investors, you guys see what happened to Pulse chain owner?

Ponzi schemes will be handled based on other legal grounds, not included in the approved phishing category (possibly with a separate law enforcement operation).

[Rockstarguy]

I hope this would help but I still think there is nothing better than educating the people. Prevention is better than cure but the bad side is that some people are not ready to learn until they are scammed. This can not completely eliminate crypto phishing and investment scam but I think it will help to some extent.

Educating people about scams will be beneficial; though it can't eliminate scams completely, it can reduce the rate at which people are scammed. I know people will inevitably fall for scams, but if we examine the main reason why people do so, it is a lack of knowledge, and scammers use this to their advantage.

If the government engages in operations like this and also educates the public on how scammers work, it will significantly prevent people from falling victim to scams. The only way to combat scams is through education, and if the government focuses on chasing scammers, this will reduce scam activities.

[Comeacross]

*} Lecturing people about how to not fall for phishing links and online scams.
*} Make crypto space a safer haven by regulating every single tokens out there.

If lecturing people can stop this, it would have been a problem long solved and forgotten. Just think of it like a school where people are taught but is it all students that pass exam? That's just the case here. You can find several threads in the forum that warn people about phishing links and in other platforms too but people still click them and lose their money before they realised. You can lecture people but you can't force them to practice it. And Regulating every single token is not even possible to begin with. The information shared by op would be helpful at least for the people that fall within those regions.

[tech30338]

As long as this people are greedy they will never learn and be afraid to invest, i have seen people who gets scam and they still fall for new type of scam no matter what the agencies tell or make in the news, they will never change, because they are hoping that one time they will be able to get rich.
Like for example one of my colleague got scam, the next day he shows me something and said its early so he is one of the pioneer, they gamble at the same time with this kind of mindset which is 100% chance of a disaster.

[ultrloa]

As long as this people are greedy they will never learn and be afraid to invest, i have seen people who gets scam and they still fall for new type of scam no matter what the agencies tell or make in the news, they will never change, because they are hoping that one time they will be able to get rich.
Like for example one of my colleague got scam, the next day he shows me something and said its early so he is one of the pioneer, they gamble at the same time with this kind of mindset which is 100% chance of a disaster.

The biggest issue there is lacking of financial literacy, because if they know that those scammers are just fooling them. For sure those investors will never dive in on another potential scam investment.

Common problem always occur is, they think that once they could spot and early investment project. They have more bigger chance to earn. But what usual things happening is they fall again with another scam.

If they cut off that cycle and try to learn other more valuable things to earn, there's a chance that those people will never get tricked by ponzi's schemes.

[Cryptomultiplier]

As long as this people are greedy they will never learn and be afraid to invest, i have seen people who gets scam and they still fall for new type of scam no matter what the agencies tell or make in the news, they will never change, because they are hoping that one time they will be able to get rich.
Like for example one of my colleague got scam, the next day he shows me something and said its early so he is one of the pioneer, they gamble at the same time with this kind of mindset which is 100% chance of a disaster.

The thing is how scammers attack the psychological state of their victims to actually fall into the trap and until people learn to stop being greedy on learn to verify from more than one source before trying to engage in a possible scam scenario, they would keep falling for scams.
It's a good move by the international law enforcement operation to try to disrupt crypto fraud from the onset before it gets to the people, but how effective could this be since it's not a thing that some other major countries haven't given into?
It's still got to be the good old ways of being vigilant that wins in the end and that's more education and awareness on that path.

[JiiBs]

In brief, about the initiative, United States, United Kingdom and Canada are conducting Operation Atlantic through U.S. Secret Service, the UK’s National Crime Agency, the Ontario Provincial Police, and the Ontario Securities Commission focusing on identifying victims who may have lost - or are at risk of losing - crypto assets through "approval phishing,” which is often linked to cryptocurrency investment scams. Operation Atlantic will identify and disrupt these scams in near real-time, denying criminals the ability to further profit from their crimes.”

Further the reading on https://www.secretservice.gov/newsroom/releases/2026/03/international-law-enforcement-operation-seeks-disrupt-crypto-fraud.

What do you think about this?

Easier said than done.

This is such a nice idea and could be a huge development if it did worked out. Figuring these things out in real time before it happens can only be the case when these transactions are being done through centralized services. When centralized services are not utilized here, the changes of breaching this process because real difficult.

It would always well teach those scammers the importance of transacting between wallets but, that’s not a huge problem at this phase of the development.