AFP investigators and industry partners, as part of the Operation Dolos joint task force, have prevented about $83 million from being lost to scammers and criminal syndicates across the globe since 2020 as part of the agency’s cybercrime operations.
Over 100 cybercrime investigations (as of September 30, 2024) remain ongoing as international organised cybercrime groups continue to target Australia’s economy and way of life through sophisticated crimes using technology.
The AFP continued to partner with the Australian Signals Directorate in 2024 under Operation Aquila to use offensive cyber capabilities to investigate and disrupt international cybercriminal syndicates, with a priority focus on ransomware threat groups.
The AFP-led Joint Policing Cybercrime Coordination Centre (JPC3) continued to lead national coordination efforts with law enforcement on high-harm and high-threat matters.
This included Operation Nebulae, which saw the AFP assist in the global takedown of a phishing-as-a-service platform known as LabHost.
Five individuals were arrested in Australia following a police takedown of the platform used to steal personal credentials from victims around the world, including more than 94,000 people in Australia.
The AFP also launched Operation Firestorm this year to target organised crime groups operating scam centres in South-East Asia and Eastern Europe.
The operation is supported by AFP cybercrime liaison officers in Pretoria, London, The Hague, Belgrade and Washington. It is working to identify Australian victims of a scam centre that was shut down in October with the arrest of more than 250 suspected cyber criminals in the Philippines.
The AFP also joined policing agencies across Australia for a National Day of Action in 2024 to disrupt cyber criminals allegedly using SIM boxes in Australia to send thousands of scam text messages targeting our community.
Coordinated via the AFP-led JPC3, six alleged offenders were identified, and 42 sim boxes and thousands of sim cards were seized.
AFP Assistant Commissioner Richard Chin said AFP investigators worked “tirelessly” in 2024 to investigate high-level organised cybercrime and take the fight to criminals offshore.
“The AFP will not stand by and watch Australians lose their life savings, identities and well-being to these criminal syndicates,’’ Chin said. “The AFP continued to work closely with our partners in 2024 to help protect Australians from cybercrime, both here in Australia and abroad.”
Chin added, “Criminal syndicates who use the internet as a tool for their cowardly offending against Australians are located all over the world.
“With over 100 active AFP investigations, the community can rest assured our teams will be relentless in 2025 to impact organised cybercrime syndicates wherever they are, including bringing offenders before the courts, either here or overseas.”
