Online Reporter
Freeman Razemba
Senior Reporter
ZIMBABWE was among 97 countries and territories that recently participated in a four-month International Criminal Police Organisation global anti-fraud operation which led to the arrest of 5 811 suspects and the interception of US$293 million in illicit assets.
Operation First Light 2026 focused on combating social engineering scams and associated money laundering activities.
Social engineering is a broad term that refers to techniques that exploit a person’s trust to obtain money or confidential information.
This type of fraud can include business email compromise, sextortion, as well as romance, impersonation or investment scams.
According to Interpol, after an initial period of intelligence collection and exchange, participating countries took part in more than three months of operational activities.
This included proactive action against high-value targets, raiding identified premises, blocking or freezing bank accounts and virtual wallets, requesting Interpol notices and diffusions and proactively utilising the organisation’s Global Rapid Intervention of Payments (I-GRIP), a stop-payment mechanism that facilitates the swift blocking of illicit financial flows of virtual assets.
Interpol said over 142 000 victims globally were identified during Operation First Light 2026, highlighting the extent to which social engineering scams and fraud have escalated into a major transnational threat, affecting individuals, businesses and governments.
Other significant results include: 152 808 cases analysed, 31 014 bank accounts blocked, 23 715 cases solved, 15 606 suspects identified, while 99 notices and diffusions were issued.
The director of the Interpol Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre, Mr Tomonobu Kaya, said, “Social engineering scams continue to pose a significant threat to our society. Criminal syndicates exploit human psychology to manipulate their targets, and no nation can stay safe unless all countries are equipped and committed to jointly fight back. Interpol is dedicated to supporting member countries in building a comprehensive, coordinated strategy to tackle cyber-enabled financial crimes, organised criminal networks and the money laundering that fuels them.”
This is not the first time that ZRP has conducted such a joint operation with Interpol.
During the past few years, the police have been conducting operations targeting wanted persons and stolen vehicles and criminal syndicates in the region.
Zimbabwe has been a member of Interpol since November 13, 1980, and has been conducting joint operations with other member states to curb cross-border crimes.
Local police officers have also attended training workshops organised by Interpol.
Interpol is the world’s largest international police organisation, with 190 member countries, including Zimbabwe. Its role is to enable global police services to work together to make the world a safer place.
