Interpol Links $123M Crypto Wallet to Romance Scam Network

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Interpol has linked a cryptocurrency wallet that processed more than $122.5 million over 10 months to a romance-scam money-laundering operation uncovered during a global anti-fraud investigation. The case was one of the largest identified during Operation First Light 2026, a coordinated law enforcement effort spanning 97 countries and territories.

Thai police arrested two suspects in connection with the scheme. According to Interpol, a 20-year-old controlled a wallet used to move proceeds from romance scams through multiple cryptocurrencies. 

Investigators said the suspects used cross-chain token swaps to obscure the origin and movement of the funds before laundering them.

Operation First Light 2026 ran from mid-January to the end of April and resulted in 5,811 arrests worldwide. Authorities intercepted $293 million in illicit assets, identified more than 142,000 victims, blocked over 31,000 bank accounts, and analyzed more than 152,000 cases. Interpol said its I-GRIP stop-payment mechanism was used to help freeze both fiat and virtual assets.

Since then, Interpol has called for continued international cooperation, noting that social engineering scams routinely target victims across multiple jurisdictions while relying on cross-border financial networks to move illicit proceeds.