{"meta":{"database":"Global Social Engineering Impact Database","license":"CC BY 4.0 — attribute to Netarx Social Engineering Incident Database","url":"https://global-social-engineering-impact-da.vercel.app/incidents/2022-operation-eagle-sweep-65-arrests-in-global-bec-disruption"},"incident":{"title":"Operation Eagle Sweep: 65 arrests in global BEC disruption","date":"2022-03-30","date_precision":"day","victim_org":"Multiple businesses and individuals (500+ U.S. victims)","sector":"Other","country":"United States","primary_vector":"Business Email Compromise","secondary_vectors":["Vendor / Supply Chain Impersonation","Romance / Investment Scam"],"ai_involvement":"No AI reported","ai_notes":"No AI or synthetic media reported.","outcomes":["Wire Fraud / Financial Loss","Attempt Blocked"],"loss_usd":null,"loss_note":"Not a single-victim loss. The targeted actors were tied to more than 500 U.S. victims and over $51 million in losses; FBI noted nearly $2.4 billion in reported BEC/EAC losses in 2021.","records_affected":null,"threat_actor":"BEC networks arrested in Nigeria, South Africa, Canada and Cambodia, plus U.S.-based money laundering cells","summary":"Operation Eagle Sweep, announced by the FBI and Justice Department on March 30, 2022, was a three-month coordinated action against business email compromise networks. It produced 65 arrests, including 12 in Nigeria, eight in South Africa, two in Canada and one in Cambodia, with parallel operations by Australia, Japan and Nigeria. The targeted actors were linked to more than 500 U.S. victims and over $51 million in losses. Cases included a Houston laundering network that moved at least $4.5 million to Nigeria.","how_it_worked":"The disrupted crews used compromised or spoofed business email accounts to insert themselves into payment flows, then requested wires or changed the banking details on invoices, closings and payroll so victims paid criminals instead of counterparties. The same organizations also targeted individuals, especially real estate purchasers and elderly victims, using romance and advance-fee variants that share the same laundering back end. Proceeds were collected in U.S.-based mule accounts, often opened with stolen or synthetic identities, and forwarded to Nigeria and other destinations. Enforcement paired arrests of the fraud operators with prosecutions of the laundering cells to reduce the networks' ability to cash out.","lessons":"Because the same infrastructure serves corporate and consumer variants, banks and businesses benefit most from beneficiary-account verification and rapid kill-chain reporting rather than victim-type-specific controls.","confidence":"Confirmed","sources":[{"title":"Global Operation Disrupts Business Email Compromise Schemes","url":"https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/coordinated-operation-disrupts-global-bec-schemes-033022","publisher":"Federal Bureau of Investigation"}],"entry_type":"campaign","slug":"2022-operation-eagle-sweep-65-arrests-in-global-bec-disruption","year":2022,"loss_kind":null,"url":"https://global-social-engineering-impact-da.vercel.app/incidents/2022-operation-eagle-sweep-65-arrests-in-global-bec-disruption"}}