Earlier this month, Interpol revealed that authorities in Singapore and Oman used a worldwide network of law enforcement agencies and financial organizations to halt a $6.6 million payoff from a business email compromise (BEC) scam, part of Operation First Light 2026, which — among other milestones — blocked more than 31,000 bank accounts linked to fraud.
When companies and individuals report fraud and cybercrime, it’s often too late to recover transferred funds. The coalition of law enforcement agencies and financial firms, known as the Interpol Global Rapid Intervention of Payments (I-GRIP) mechanism, has been working together to cut down the time to halt transfers and recover funds.
I-GRIP links together the offices of national law enforcement in 196 countries with local and international financial firms to speed requests to take action against fraud. In the same way that Interpol connects law enforcement in different countries through its National Central Bureaus (NCBs), I-GRIP extends those operational connections to financial institutions, Tomonobu Kaya, director of the Interpol Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Center, tells Dark Reading.
“To maximize the effectiveness of our stop-payment mechanism, member countries need to be able to act quickly and at any time,” he says. “This round-the-clock readiness ensures the instant transfer of information among member countries at any time.”
Cybercrime losses borne by individuals — and profits for the transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) behind the scams — have risen quickly over the past five years. In 2025, Southeast Asian TCOs caused roughly $100 billion in damages (estimates range from $88 billion to $114 billion), much of which is direct costs to victims transferred through legitimate and illicit fund transfers. Often, some local police and government officials have collaborated with the criminal syndicates, which operate as businesses, many of which have been sanctioned by the US and Western European nations.
Getting a GRIP on Fraud-Money Transfers
I-GRIP aims to make success more difficult by making defenders and financial institutions more efficient. By enabling the rapid transfer of information between National Central Bureaus, I-GRIP allows more successful interceptions of illicit asset transfers before they cross borders. In August 2024, for example, a coordinated action between Singapore and Timor Leste (East Timor) in Southeast Asia resulted in the interception of $40 million in funds after an investment firm received a false request to update a supplier’s bank information. I-GRIP helped stop the transfer, even though the incident was reported four days after the transaction was initiated.
While bilateral agreements exist for such cooperation, I-GRIP distinguishes itself as the only global, real-time solution for cross-border fraud interception, says Interpol’s Kaya.
“While different jurisdictions may have their own stop-payment tools, the real challenge is ensuring instant, 24/7 information sharing across borders,” he says. “Without rapid coordination, fraudsters can move illicit funds globally in minutes, leaving victims with little hope of recovery.”
Because fraud schemes regularly jump jurisdictions, using bank accounts in different countries and transferring funds through non-bank financial services, blocking transactions quickly has become critically important, says Eric Jardine, head of research at Chainalysis.
“A victim may be in one country, the receiving account in another, the laundering network in a third, and the scam operators somewhere else entirely — a mechanism that shortens the time between detection and intervention can materially improve outcomes,” he says. “The number one factor is response time: Victims need clear reporting channels, and institutions need the ability to escalate suspected fraud immediately.”
A layered model works best, he says, with rapid notification channels, strong public-private partnerships, better institutional points of contact, and technology that helps each party better identify suspicious destination accounts.
Cryptocurrencies Pose Significant Challenges
Because cryptocurrency often does not pass through traditional financial institution or banking channels, halting such transactions becomes even more difficult. Outcomes vary by jurisdiction, but once stolen crypto is converted to cash, the chances of recovery usually fall sharply, says Jardine, because cryptocurrencies introduce near-instant transactions, global reach, and creative laundering options.
“Criminals can move value across borders at any hour, chain-hop between assets, use mixers or other obfuscation tools, and attempt to cash out through a wide range of services,” he says. “But crypto also creates a major advantage for investigators: transparency. Unlike cash or opaque offshore structures, blockchain transactions create a permanent record.”
Using the right tools, investigators and experts can trace funds, identify patterns across victims, and in many cases, map the wider criminal network, Jardine says.
Interpol aims to better target cryptocurrency transactions by connecting member countries’ National Central Bureaus (NCBs) with virtual asset service providers (VASPs), says Interpol’s Kaya. The goal? Ensuring fraud alerts can reach cryptocurrency exchanges as quickly as banks.
