US, UK, and Canada Launch Joint Operation to Disrupt Crypto Fraud

The US Secret Service, UK National Crime Agency, and Canadian authorities have partnered to disrupt fraudulent schemes related to crypto, raise awareness of scams, and recover stolen funds.

In a Monday notice, law enforcement agencies from the three countries — including Canada’s Ontario Provincial Police and the Ontario Securities Commission — said that they had launched “Operation Atlantic,” focusing on identifying people at risk of losing or those who had already lost crypto through “approval phishing” schemes.

“Approval phishing and investment scams cost victims millions in financial loss each year,” said Brent Daniels, deputy assistant director for the US Secret Service’s Office of Field Operations. The agencies said they hope to identify and disrupt these scams in near real-time.

According to blockchain analytics platform Chainalysis, approval phishing scams involve “the scammer trick[ing] the user into signing a malicious blockchain transaction that gives the scammer’s address approval to spend specific tokens inside the victim’s wallet, allowing the scammer to then drain the victim’s address of those tokens at will.”

According to the Ontario Securities Commission, Operation Atlantic built upon the commission’s Project Atlas. The operation was launched in 2024 by the Ontario Provincial Police with the US Secret Service and targeted crypto fraud networks. 

The initiative will also work with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the City of London Police, the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Related: SEC drops case against BitClout founder with prejudice

Are different phishing scams on the rise?

Phishing scams usually involve different methods, seemingly from legitimate sources, that trick users into giving fraudsters access to their crypto wallets. According to crypto intelligence platform Nominis’ monthly report, phishing attacks increased sharply in February, but the amount stolen in crypto-related scams and exploits overall fell to $49 million from $385 million in January.

Chainalysis launched Operation Spincaster in 2024, targeting “approval phishing” scams, which it reported had resulted in $2.7 billion in crypto stolen between May 2021 and July 2024.

Magazine: All 21 million Bitcoin is at risk from quantum computers