3,000 arrests, $161M seized as Operation FRONTIER+ III takes down $752M crypto fraud rings

Operation FRONTIER+ III, a coordinated two-month operation involving law enforcement from 10 countries has ended in the arrests of more than 3,000 people. 

The Hong Kong Police Force and Singapore Police Force announced that they recovered $161 million from their operation, which targeted cross-border scams and money laundering operators.

What is Operation Frontier?

3,200 officers from Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, South Korea, Brunei, Canada, the Maldives and Macau participated in an operation, codenamed FRONTIER+ III, that ran from March 10 to May 7, 2026.

The 3,018 arrested suspects were linked to more than 138,000 fraud cases including e-commerce scams, fake job offers, investment fraud and impersonation schemes. Victim losses totaled approximately $752 million.

$161 million was recovered from the operation across the participating jurisdictions and nearly 102,000 bank accounts had to be frozen to prevent the flow of the funds.

$319 million of the $752 million reported as fraud losses came from Hong Kong. The city’s police arrested 870 individuals, from as young as 13 to as old as 83, in connection with 742 cases and intercepted about HK$539 million (approximately $69 million) in suspected criminal proceeds.

The FRONTIER+ platform now includes representatives from 14 law enforcement agencies, with the United States, Australia, South Africa and the UAE joining the original Asian participants.

Singapore CEO fell for $36.3 million scam

In the largest individual fraud case that the operation targeted, the chief executive of a Singapore-based company received a WhatsApp call from someone posing as the firm’s chairman. The executive transferred $36.3 million into two local OCBC accounts for a fake acquisition.

The fraud was discovered later when the CEO checked with the actual chairman.

Singapore’s Anti-Scam Centre seized $9.7 million from local accounts, but roughly $26.5 million had already moved to Hong Kong. Joint work with Hong Kong’s Anti-Deception Coordination Centre recovered an additional $11.1 million from bank accounts and linked crypto wallets. Two Singaporeans were arrested for allegedly helping open the corporate bank account that received the illicit transfers.

About half the stolen funds were converted to stablecoins and spread across multiple wallets, which is a growing trend Hong Kong police have observed among fraud syndicates.

How is Singapore fighting cybercrime?

In a separate cross-border operation, Singapore and Malaysian police dismantled a syndicate operating out of Johor Bahru.

Officers from Malaysia’s Johor Commercial Crime Investigation Department raided the group’s premises in March, and seized 83 mobile phones, 45 bank tokens and a computer containing operational software. That intelligence led to the arrest of 18 people in Singapore between March 23 and 31 for allegedly surrendering bank accounts or Singpass credentials for payment.

A second joint operation targeted a suspected government official impersonation scam center in Kuala Lumpur. Malaysian police raided the location early in April and arrested three men. The devices recovered contained fake court orders and photographs linking the suspects to fraud that cost 22 Singapore-based victims more than S$877,000.

Singapore’s Anti-Scam Centre investigated more than 1,000 individuals tied to cases involving S$69.3 million in losses. Over 130 people were arrested in the city-state, and authorities froze 2,315 bank accounts and seized S$34.9 million.

Authorities have indicated the FRONTIER+ platform will continue expanding, and additional jurisdictions will be invited to join future operations.