Scam Slapped: Operation Atlantic Chills $12M of Phishing Loot

Move over, rug pulls—there's a new sheriff in town, and it wears a badge from three different countries. Authorities in the US, UK, and Canada have frozen millions in crypto scam proceeds following a joint enforcement operation called Operation Atlantic. Turns out, when you steal from enough people across enough borders, eventually someone notices.

The operation targeted phishing attacks and took place in March. It was coordinated by the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA), the US Secret Service, the Ontario Provincial Police, and the Ontario Securities Commission. Think of it as the Avengers, but for financial crimes—and significantly less CGI.

Operation Atlantic identified over 20,000 victims across the three countries and secured more than $12 million in suspected criminal proceeds, the NCA said. It also identified more than $45 million stolen in cryptocurrency fraud schemes. That's a lot of fake airdrops and suspiciously generous DMs finally coming back to haunt their creators.

"Operation Atlantic is a powerful example of what is possible when international agencies and private industry work side by side," said NCA Deputy Director of Investigations Miles Bonfield. And by "work side by side," he means a lot of encrypted emails, spreadsheet exports, and probably some very long Zoom calls.

The operation received assistance from major cryptocurrency exchange Binance, which provided its Special Investigations team for on-site investigations at the NCA's London headquarters. The team offered live account screening, scam intelligence, and insights on potential bad actors to assist with asset seizure efforts. Binance also conducted research identifying scam websites still actively defrauding victims during the operation. Because apparently, even during a coordinated crackdown, some scammers just can't resist doubling down. No funds were frozen on Binance, as the criminal proceeds targeted were held outside the platform.

Approval phishing scams trick users into signing malicious permissions that allow attackers to access and drain crypto wallets. Unlike typical scams where victims send crypto directly, approval phishing misleads victims into authorizing transactions that let scammers spend specific tokens in their wallets. It's the Web3 equivalent of someone convincing you to hand over the keys to your house and then being surprised when they start moving your furniture out.

"Approval phishing is one of the most damaging types of scams targeting crypto users today," said Flavio Tonon, Binance's senior regional advisor for Europe, Middle East, and Africa. He noted that blockchain transparency makes it difficult for criminals to escape phishing exploits. Translation: on-chain, nobody can hear you scam, but they