A global police crackdown in June and July against illegal sports gambling led to thousands of arrests and website shutdowns while also disrupting scam centers and their related human trafficking and money laundering operations, Interpol reported Thursday.

Authorities in 28 countries participated in the operation, labeled SOGA X, which focused on illegal gambling during the UEFA 2024 European Football Championship, Interpol said. The soccer tournament is one of the most closely watched worldwide, outside of the World Cup.

Police recovered more than $59 million in illicit proceeds, Interpol said, while arresting 5,100 people and “shutting down tens of thousands of illegal websites.” 

The operation highlighted the links between illegal gambling and cybercrime centers where workers typically are forced to carry out online fraud, Interpol said, such as romance scams and financial schemes commonly called pig butchering.

Southeast Asia is the global hotbed for such activity, with a U.N. report warning recently that crime syndicates are adapting and evolving to outrun law enforcement. They are netting an estimated $64 billion annually, according to the U.S. Institute of Peace. Advancements in technology — such as generative artificial intelligence — also keep the scams fresh. 

In one case in the Philippines, Interpol said, a scam center targeted during SOGA X was operating alongside a licensed gambling site. 

That takedown “resulted in the rescue of more than 650 human trafficking victims, including almost 400 Filipinos and more than 250 foreign nationals from six different countries,” Interpol said. “Many of the victims had been lured to the location with false promises of employment and were kept there through threats, intimidation, and even passport confiscation.”

Interpol said authorities dismantled “a sophisticated gambling ring” in Vietnam that was generating $800,000 a day in illegal transactions. 

“The syndicate, powered by servers located in multiple countries, used an elaborate network of bank accounts and e-wallets to receive illegal gambling bets and distribute payouts,” the agency said.

Other targets included “two locations hosting major illegal betting websites” in Thailand, and a “major illegal betting ring” in Greece.

The Greece raid disrupted an organized crime group that “managed 3,000 fake and ‘mule’ user accounts on legal gambling websites in Greece, Cyprus, and Spain,” Interpol said.

“The accounts had been created using both stolen identity cards and forged documents and often utilized e-wallets to facilitate their illegal activities,” the agency said. “During the investigation seized laptops were found to contain 9,000 pictures of fake ID cards.”

Those methods can help hide illegal operations and allow the perpetrators to launder their profits, Interpol said. 

A separate but related international law enforcement operation this year led to thousands of arrests in June. Authorities also continue to prosecute and sanction specific individuals suspected of leading scam syndicates.