More than 565 people in North America and Europe have been arrested in an international sweep that targeted marketing fraud using the Internet and other means, the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) announced Tuesday.The international operation, called Operation Global Con, targeted lottery and sweepstakes schemes, offers of nonexistent investments, bogus offers of preapproved credit cards and fee scams similar to the popular Nigerian banking schemes, the DoJ said. Fraudsters used various means, including the Internet, telemarketing and mass mail, to target victims, the DoJ said.The ongoing operation started March 1. The 96 separate U.S. investigations in the operation found 2.8 million victims who suffered losses totalling more than US $1 billion, the DoJ said.The fraudsters believe they can “use modern technology to operate from anywhere in the world with impunity,” said U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in a statement. So far, the operation has led to the arrest of 139 people in the United States, and an additional 426 arrests in Canada, Costa Rica, the Netherlands and Spain. Authorities executed 447 search warrants in the five countries as part of the operation, and 61 people have been convicted in the United States so far, the DoJ said. In addition, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has brought 20 civil actions against 140 defendants in illegal fraud schemes.Last week, Costa Rican agents, working with U.S. officials, conducted a series of arrests and searches that targeted so-called boiler-room operations. These operations used Internet-based telephony and mobile phones to contact prospective victims in the United States, purporting to be from nonexistent organizations such as the Sweepstakes Security Commission, to offer nonexistent sweepstakes winnings of as much as $4.5 million, the DoJ said. Victims were expected, in return, to pay insurance fees. Some victims who made the payments would then be recontacted by participants in the schemes, who pretended to be Costa Rican or U.S. customs authorities demanding payment of additional customs fees or taxes. U.S. victims of Internet fraud schemes should file complaints online with the Internet Crime Complaint Center, a joint project of the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center, at IC3.gov. Victims of telemarketing fraud should contact the Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Sentinel at FTC.gov.-Grant Gross, IDG News ServiceCheck out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage. Related content opinion Can you spot the hidden theme of CSO’s Future of Cybersecurity summit? By Beth Kormanik May 31, 2023 2 mins Events Cybercrime Artificial Intelligence case study How IT leaders use EV tech to fuel the transport revolution in Kenya Many African nations are starting to invest in electric vehicle (EV) transportation as a means to broaden access and help keep pace with global environmental initiatives. In Kenya, strides are being made despite industry and tech leaders grappling to By Vincent Matinde May 31, 2023 5 mins CIO CTO Emerging Technology feature How CIOs distill the most sought-after data skills From back-end engineers to data scientists and line-of-business experts, here’s the in-demand talent that all organizations need to turn a glut of information into game-changing insight. By Mark Samuels May 31, 2023 8 mins IT Skills Data Center IT Leadership interview Broadcom’s Andy Nallappan on what cloud success really looks like The CTO, CSO, and head of software engineering and operations knows firsthand that a successful move to the cloud is all about changing the culture and replacing on-prem’s sunk cost mentality with incentivized FinOps. By Martha Heller May 31, 2023 8 mins Technology Industry IT Strategy Cloud Computing Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe