Over 20,000 crypto fraud victims identified in international crackdown

Operation Atlantic was a multinational law enforcement action led by the U.K. National Crime Agency with partners including the U.S. Secret Service and Canadian authorities; investigators identified over 20,000 victims of cryptocurrency fraud, froze more than $12 million in suspected proceeds from approval-phishing schemes, and linked $45 million in stolen crypto. The report highlights public–private cooperation as a core fraud-prevention model, references related U.S. actions (Operation Level Up) that identified thousands more victims, and cites FBI statistics showing a sharp rise in crypto investment fraud complaints and multi-billion-dollar losses in the 2025 Internet Crime Report.