A recent operation that law enforcement agencies worldwide conducted has successfully taken down as many as tens of thousands of cybercriminal-operated servers.
Known as Operation Synergia III, it took place over a period of six months in cooperation with virtually every major police agency from 72 countries around the world to disrupt online criminal activity on an enormous scale.
During its run from July 2025 through January 2026, the operation led to 94 arrests and the identification of 45,000+ malicious IP addresses that are now offline. In addition, the operation identified and seized 212 devices and servers that some criminal organizations used to commit these crimes.
This incredible international cooperation among law enforcement agencies demonstrates what they can accomplish through combining their resources to combat cybercrime globally.
Phishing sites and online scams targeted
The Operation saw reports of different criminal activities in various scopes. Investigators in Macau flagged 33,000 phishing websites during this operation.
These malicious websites appear as authentic bank portals, casinos, and government payment services. The criminal aspect was to obtain personal information or bank login information through this fake site, and then commit fraud with the stolen information.
Phishing remains one of the most common ways ordinary internet users get caught out. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center regularly warns that such scams cost victims billions of dollars each year. The sheer number of fake sites taken down in just one location highlights how big a problem this has become.
Romance scams and fraud rings dismantled
The operation also uncovered more complex criminal setups. In Togo, authorities arrested 10 suspects who were running a hybrid fraud operation out of a residential building.
According to reports, some members of the group handled the technical side of hacking while others ran romance scams and sextortion schemes. This two-lane approach allowed them to target victims in multiple ways using the same stolen data.
Romance scams work by criminals building fake relationships with victims online before asking for money. The Action Fraud service of the UK has noted that this type of scam can cause significant emotional and financial impact on people, in addition to their physical effects.
For example, police in Bangladesh have arrested 40 people and found 134 devices associated with loan, job, and credit card scams. That indicates how widespread these types of fraud have become internationally.
Private companies joined the fight
Unlike most other recent operations, private cybersecurity businesses collaborated with law enforcement to take down criminal operations. Firms including Group-IB, Trend Micro, and S2W helped track malicious servers and flag criminal infrastructure to law enforcement. This public-private partnership model allowed investigators to move faster and target the right servers with greater accuracy.
Coordination of the large-scale operation through 72 countries required a great deal of work. Most of the international responses to cybercrime operate much more slowly than this operation due to the use of diplomatic email chains.
Hence, Operation Synergia III reflects what law enforcement agencies and private industries can accomplish with planning and cooperation. Reports of 110 additional suspects under investigation will introduce the possibility of even more arrests through continued evidence gathering as this operation goes on in the future.
The success of these coordinated actions, from Synergia III to the Safe-Inet takedown, sends a clear message: when law enforcement and private sector partners work together across borders, even the most entrenched criminal infrastructure can be dismantled.
