The international police organization Interpol has completed a large-scale operation, First Light 2026, which took place from January 15 to April 30, 2026, in 97 countries and territories. The results are impressive: 5,811 people were detained, and illegal assets worth $293 million were intercepted. However, the most striking and telling episode of this campaign is a single crypto wallet that processed over $122.5 million in just 10 months.
Cryptocurrency as a Money Laundering Tool
The operation aimed to combat fraud through social engineering and associated money laundering. A total of over 142,000 victims were identified worldwide. A key case emerged in Thailand. Police arrested two suspects and uncovered a scheme that funneled funds from "romance" scams into cryptocurrencies.
To conceal their tracks, the perpetrators actively used cross-chain token swaps. The investigation revealed that the crypto wallet of a 20-year-old suspect processed over $122.5 million in 10 months. A separate incident was recorded in Palau, where authorities deported 22 individuals who worked in two fraud centers disguised as hotels.
Scale and Methods
Beyond crypto schemes, the operation covered a wide range of frauds. In total, 152,808 cases were analyzed, 31,014 bank accounts were blocked, and 23,715 cases were solved. A notable case occurred in Eswatini (Swaziland), where 82 people were arrested. Authorities seized 240 electronic devices, foreign currency, and an entire organization disguised as a Brazilian police station, complete with fake uniforms and equipment. Posing as Brazil's federal police, the scammers convinced victims to transfer funds "for safekeeping."
In other countries, Interpol's emergency payment blocking mechanism, I-GRIP, was activated. Through it, authorities in Singapore and Oman blocked an illegal transfer of $6.6 million linked to business email compromise.
As noted by Tomonobu Kaya, Director of Interpol's Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Center, criminal syndicates exploit human psychology, and no country can remain safe without joint countermeasures.
Analyst's opinion: The fact that a single wallet belonging to a 20-year-old suspect processed $122.5 million vividly demonstrates how vulnerable the infrastructure of DeFi and centralized exchanges is to large flows of illegal funds. Cross-chain swaps are becoming a standard tool for evading blockchain analytics, and without global coordination among law enforcement agencies and the implementation of advanced monitoring systems at the protocol level, we risk seeing even larger-scale cases.