Law enforcement agencies from the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada have launched a joint initiative called Operation Atlantic to combat cryptocurrency phishing and fraud, raise public awareness and recover stolen funds. The US Secret Service, the UK National Crime Agency and Canadian authorities—including the Ontario Provincial Police and the Ontario Securities Commission—are spearheading the cross-border effort.
The operation concentrates on detecting people at imminent risk of losing crypto and locating victims already defrauded through so-called “approval phishing” schemes. “Approval phishing and investment scams cost victims millions in financial loss each year,” said Brent Daniels, deputy assistant director for the US Secret Service’s Office of Field Operations. Authorities say the work aims to identify and disrupt these scams in near real time.
Approval phishing, as explained by blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, tricks a user into signing a malicious blockchain transaction that grants a scammer’s address permission to spend certain tokens in the victim’s wallet. Once that approval is granted, the scammer can drain those tokens at will.
Operation Atlantic builds on earlier programs such as the Ontario Securities Commission’s Project Atlas and a 2024 partnership between the Ontario Provincial Police and the US Secret Service targeting crypto fraud networks. The broader coordination will also involve the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the City of London Police, the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority.
Phishing scams often impersonate legitimate services to coax users into giving wallet access. Activity can fluctuate month to month: crypto intelligence firm Nominis reported a sharp rise in phishing attacks in February even as the total value stolen in crypto-related scams and exploits fell from $385 million in January to $49 million in February.
Chainalysis previously ran Operation Spincaster in 2024 to tackle approval phishing; its research estimates such scams caused roughly $2.7 billion in losses between May 2021 and July 2024. The new multinational operation aims to combine investigative resources, analytics and public outreach to reduce those losses and recover assets where possible.
Readers are encouraged to verify details independently and follow official guidance on avoiding phishing and securing crypto wallets.