Law enforcement agencies in Canada, the United States and Britain are teaming up for a week-long blitz aimed at tackling cryptocurrency investment scams.
During the initiative, dubbed Operation Atlantic, the U.S. Secret Service, Britain’s National Crime Agency, the Ontario Provincial Police and the Ontario Securities Commission will work together to help victims of what are known as “approval phishing” scams recover their stolen funds. These schemes are often associated with cryptocurrency investment fraud.
“Criminals operate across borders, so our response must do the same,” Paul Foster, deputy director of cyber at Britain’s National Crime Agency, said in a statement.
Fraud has been surging in recent years, and its increasingly global nature has made it challenging for law enforcement to tackle.
In Canada, victims reported a total of $544-million in losses to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre in the first nine months of last year. The reported losses, which are believed to represent just 5 to 10 per cent of all fraud, are on track to surpass the $645-million reported to the agency in 2024.
“Approval phishing and investment scams cost victims millions in financial loss each year,” Brent Daniels, deputy assistant director for the U.S. Secret Service’s Office of Field Operations, said in a statement.
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In an approval phishing scam, a victim is tricked into clicking a pop-up or alert that gives the scammer access to their digital wallet. The criminal then transfers funds out of the victim’s wallet. The transactions are irreversible, which makes the stolen money difficult to retrieve.
During Operation Atlantic, which kicks off on Monday and lasts through Friday, law enforcement personnel from the three countries will work out of a command centre, where they will be joined by representatives from cryptocurrency exchanges.
The personnel will be divided into several teams. The blockchain analysis team will use cryptocurrency tracing tools to identify fraudulent transactions and victims. The information they retrieve will be passed on to victim contact teams in San Francisco and Washington, who will work with victims to revoke the criminals’ access to their wallets.
A third team will work to seize stolen funds so that they can be returned to victims.
Law enforcement will also gather evidence to identify the transnational organized crime groups behind the scams in the hopes of eventually prosecuting them, an official from the U.S. Secret Service told reporters during a media briefing last Friday.
The bad actors behind these types of frauds are often located in Southeast Asia, according to another U.S. Secret Service official.
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Operation Atlantic follows a 2024 initiative called Project Atlas that was led by the Ontario Provincial Police and prevented over $70-million of fraud losses.
“Project Atlas demonstrated the power of co-ordinated disruption,” Ontario Provincial Police Superintendent Jennifer Spurrell said in a statement.
Operation Atlantic builds on that previous initiative, bringing together international partners to tackle fraud while it’s occurring, said Supt. Spurrell, who serves as the director of the OPP’s Financial Crimes Services Bureau.
“As fraud becomes increasingly global, this level of collaboration is essential,” Supt. Spurrell said.
Other agencies participating in the initiative include the RCMP, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, the City of London Police and Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority.
Bonnie Lysyk, executive vice-president of enforcement at the OSC, said the initiative demonstrates the importance of working across borders to tackle the growing problem of scams.
“Through our partnerships with the OPP, U.K. National Crime Agency, and U.S. Secret Service we are using innovative techniques, advanced tools, and extensive expertise to disrupt bad actors and protect investors from the harm they seek to cause,” Ms. Lysyk said in a statement.