Operation Atlantic identifies more than 20,000 crypto fraud victims across UK, US, and Canada
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An international law enforcement crackdown led by the UK’s National Crime Agency has identified more than 20,000 victims of cryptocurrency and investment fraud across the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada. The operation, called Operation Atlantic, also froze more than $12 million in suspected criminal proceeds and linked more than $45 million in stolen cryptocurrency to fraud schemes worldwide.
The NCA says the operation focused on approval phishing, a tactic that tricks victims into granting criminals access to their crypto wallets. Authorities say the weeklong action brought together the NCA, the US Secret Service, the Ontario Provincial Police, the Ontario Securities Commission, and other public and private partners for live intelligence sharing, technical analysis, and victim outreach.
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This matters because crypto investment fraud remains one of the most damaging online crime categories. The FBI’s latest data shows cryptocurrency investment fraud alone caused $7.2 billion in reported losses in the United States in 2025, making it the biggest single source of financial loss tracked in that report.
What Operation Atlantic achieved
According to the NCA, investigators disrupted multiple fraud networks during the coordinated action and used private sector tracing support to identify victims in real time. That allowed authorities to secure funds before criminals could move them further through laundering chains or additional wallets.
The agency says at least one UK victim identified during the operation had already lost more than £52,000. It also says the public and private sector model used during Operation Atlantic will play a central role in the UK government’s new fraud strategy, which aims to connect industry data with law enforcement action earlier in the scam cycle.
NCA Deputy Director of Investigations Miles Bonfield described the operation as proof that joint international action can stop fraud faster and protect victims before losses deepen. The agency says it will keep analyzing intelligence gathered during the operation to identify more victims and support future criminal investigations.
Why approval phishing keeps working
Approval phishing does not always look like a wallet drain at first glance. Instead, the victim often believes they are joining a legitimate investment opportunity or authorizing a routine blockchain action, when in fact they are giving the attacker permission to move assets out of the wallet.
That makes this kind of fraud especially hard to spot in time. Unlike a stolen password, a malicious wallet approval can appear legitimate on-chain, and victims often realize what happened only after funds have already moved through several addresses or conversion services. This is an inference based on the NCA’s description of approval phishing and the FBI’s broader warning about how crypto investment fraud operates.
Authorities clearly worry that the problem is still growing. The FBI said this month that Americans filed 181,565 complaints involving cryptocurrency in 2025, with losses topping $11 billion across all crypto-related complaint types. The bureau also said investment fraud remains the main driver of scam losses and that crypto cases sit among the costliest categories it tracks.
The wider crackdown on crypto investment scams
Operation Atlantic is not happening in isolation. The FBI’s Operation Level Up, launched in January 2024 with support from the US Secret Service, has now notified 8,103 victims of cryptocurrency investment fraud, and the bureau says 77% of those people did not realize they were being scammed when contacted.
The FBI estimates that Operation Level Up has already prevented more than $511 million in losses. It also says some victims were preparing to liquidate retirement savings, sell homes, or take out large loans before agents intervened.
Taken together, the NCA and FBI numbers show how the fraud model now works at scale. Victims get identified across borders, the money moves fast, and law enforcement increasingly depends on exchanges, analytics firms, and other private partners to trace and freeze funds before they disappear. This is an inference drawn from the official descriptions of Operation Atlantic and Operation Level Up.
Key figures at a glance
| Metric | Figure |
|---|---|
| Victims identified in Operation Atlantic | 20,000+ |
| Suspected criminal proceeds frozen | $12 million+ |
| Stolen crypto linked to fraud schemes | $45 million+ |
| FBI Operation Level Up victims notified | 8,103 |
| Operation Level Up estimated savings | $511.5 million |
| US crypto investment fraud losses in 2025 | $7.2 billion |
| Total US crypto-related complaint losses in 2025 | $11 billion+ |
Sources: NCA, FBI, IC3.
What users should watch for
- Unsolicited investment tips sent by text, social media, or messaging apps.
- Pressure to move a conversation to an encrypted chat platform.
- Claims of guaranteed or unusually high returns from crypto trading.
- Requests to approve a wallet transaction or connect a wallet without fully explaining what permission is being granted.
- Demands for extra fees or taxes before you can withdraw funds.
FAQ
It is a joint anti-fraud operation led by the UK National Crime Agency with partners in the US and Canada. The NCA says it identified more than 20,000 victims and froze over $12 million in suspected criminal proceeds.
It is a crypto scam in which victims are tricked into approving wallet permissions that let criminals access or transfer funds. Operation Atlantic specifically targeted this form of fraud.
The FBI says cryptocurrency investment fraud caused $7.2 billion in reported losses in 2025. Across all crypto-related complaints, Americans reported more than $11 billion in losses.
It is an FBI initiative launched in January 2024 to identify and warn victims of cryptocurrency investment fraud before they lose more money. The bureau says it has notified 8,103 victims and helped prevent more than $511 million in losses.
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