INTERPOL fights cybercrime mainly by connecting national police, intelligence providers and technical experts across borders. It does not replace a country’s police, prosecutors or courts. Instead, its cybercrime program turns intelligence into coordinated operations, helps countries build investigative capability and supports action against the infrastructure and money flows that enable online crime.
1. INTERPOL’s core role is cross-border coordination
Cybercrime rarely stays inside one jurisdiction: a victim, criminal group, command server and payment account may all be in different countries. INTERPOL supports law-enforcement agencies in all 196 member countries through three complementary pillars.
Cybercrime Threat Response
This pillar gathers, assesses and shares intelligence about threats, criminal infrastructure and emerging techniques so national agencies can act on information from outside their own borders.
Cybercrime Operations
INTERPOL coordinates multinational prevention, detection, investigation and disruption campaigns. National authorities conduct arrests, searches, seizures and prosecutions under their own laws.
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Cyber Strategy and Capabilities Development
This work improves investigative skills, technical capacity, partnerships and public engagement, addressing the gaps that allow cybercrime groups to operate safely across borders.
That division of responsibility matters. INTERPOL provides coordination and support; the supplied material does not establish that INTERPOL officers independently arrest or prosecute suspects in every country.
2. It targets criminal infrastructure as well as the criminals using it
Many INTERPOL operations are designed to make cybercrime harder to run by disrupting servers, malicious IP addresses, command-and-control systems and other enabling infrastructure.
Operation Synergia II
Reported by INTERPOL in 2024, Synergia II focused on phishing, ransomware and infostealers. The operation reported more than 22,000 malicious IP addresses or servers taken down, 59 servers seized, 43 electronic devices seized, 41 arrests and 65 additional people under investigation.
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Operation Synergia
A separate 2024 Synergia operation identified about 1,300 suspicious IP addresses or URLs. It reported that 70% of identified command-and-control servers were taken down and that 31 people were detained.
These figures are operation-specific snapshots, not a permanent count of all cybercrime activity. “Taken down” can involve action by hosting providers, registrars or national authorities and does not necessarily mean every person behind an address has been identified.
3. It follows the money behind online fraud
Cybercrime investigations often need to trace proceeds through bank accounts, payment platforms and cryptocurrency services. INTERPOL’s coordination helps countries act quickly when assets or accounts cross borders.
Operation HAECHI V
HAECHI V addressed voice phishing, romance scams, online sextortion, investment fraud, illegal online gambling, business email compromise and e-commerce fraud. INTERPOL reported more than 5,500 arrests and seizures exceeding USD 400 million in the 2024 operation.
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International cooperation can allow participating authorities to freeze or seize suspected proceeds while investigators establish the underlying offences. The reported amount is a result for that operation and date, not a general annual total for all INTERPOL cybercrime work.
4. Its network converts local evidence into multinational action
A local police report may contain a domain, wallet address, email trail, malware sample or server log that is useful in another country. INTERPOL provides channels and coordination mechanisms for connecting those pieces.
Operation Synergia II’s participation
Synergia II involved law-enforcement agencies from 95 INTERPOL member countries. Private-sector intelligence partners included Group-IB, Trend Micro, Kaspersky and Team Cymru, whose data can help identify infrastructure and links that national agencies cannot see alone.
The Gateway Project
INTERPOL’s Gateway Project provides trusted channels for sharing actionable cybercrime intelligence. INTERPOL’s 2023 reporting listed 13 private-sector Gateway partners. The model allows vetted technical information to reach the appropriate national authorities rather than leaving companies to manage a multinational criminal investigation by themselves.
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5. Operations are paired with training and shared investigative platforms
Disruption is only sustainable when participating agencies can preserve digital evidence, investigate malware and trace online financial activity. INTERPOL therefore combines operational support with capability building.
Knowledge and collaboration systems
- Cybercrime Knowledge Exchange: a venue for law-enforcement and other authorized participants to exchange expertise and practical knowledge.
- Cybercrime Collaborative Platform–Operation: a mechanism for law-enforcement, government and vetted industry participants to share information and coordinate cases.
Training and technical-capability development can include investigative methods, intelligence handling and cooperation with industry. The goal is to help agencies continue investigations after a specific operation ends, rather than relying on a one-time takedown.
6. Singapore is the organization’s main cybercrime hub
INTERPOL’s Global Complex for Innovation (IGCI) has been based in Singapore since 2015. It is the centre of the organization’s cybercrime, research-and-development and capacity-building activities.
The Singapore location brings operational coordination, technical research and training into the same environment. It supports the global network rather than serving as a standalone international police force with its own universal arrest jurisdiction.
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How INTERPOL’s methods fit together
| Approach | What is disrupted or improved | Typical participants | Where action occurs | How results are measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Threat response and infrastructure operations | Malicious domains, IP addresses, servers, command-and-control systems and malware infrastructure | National police, INTERPOL analysts and private-sector intelligence partners | Across participating countries, through each country’s competent authorities and service providers | Infrastructure taken down, servers or devices seized, suspects identified or detained |
| Financial investigations | Fraud proceeds, payment accounts and other criminal assets | National law enforcement, financial investigators and cooperating financial or technology services | Countries where victims, accounts, companies or suspects are located | Accounts or assets frozen, money traced, proceeds seized and arrests made |
| Capability development | Investigative skill, technical capacity, intelligence sharing and institutional gaps | Member-country agencies, governments, vetted experts and industry | Training and collaboration coordinated internationally, with investigations conducted nationally | Agencies trained, technical capability improved and cases coordinated more effectively |
What INTERPOL can—and cannot—do in a cybercrime case
- It can: connect investigators in different countries, distribute actionable intelligence, coordinate joint operations, support evidence and infrastructure disruption, and help trace or freeze suspected criminal proceeds through national authorities.
- It cannot automatically: prosecute a suspect, issue a universal arrest warrant or bypass the laws and procedures of the country where an arrest, search, seizure or prosecution takes place.
Whether a suspect is arrested, extradited or prosecuted depends on the relevant national agencies, evidence, jurisdiction and legal process. INTERPOL’s value is making those agencies more likely to see the same threat and act together.
Why the international model matters
INTERPOL Secretary General Valdecy Urquiza described cybercrime as “a uniquely borderless threat that is increasing at a dramatic rate” on 23 December 2024. Neal Jetton, INTERPOL’s Director of the Cybercrime Directorate, said the global nature of cybercrime requires a global response, pointing to member-country support for Synergia II.
The practical lesson is that cybercrime enforcement is measured in more than arrests. Removing infrastructure, interrupting money flows, sharing evidence and improving national capability can all reduce a criminal group’s ability to operate—even when no single country controls the entire case.
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