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Operation Atlantic, a multinational law operation, launched this week to disrupt approval phishing scams that trick crypto users into giving up control of their wallets.
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Over 106,000 people have already fallen victim to these scams, with over $83 million in losses recorded in 2025. The scam is often linked to ‘pig butchering,’ a form of investment fraud.
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Agencies in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada are working together with some private partners to identify victims in real time, recover funds, and raise public awareness.
The Fight Against Approval Phishing Scams
This week, authorities from three countries: the UK, the US, and Canada joined forces to fight a type of crypto scam. They tagged the initiative “Operation Atlantic”. It brings together the United States Secret Service, Canadian law enforcement, and the UK’s National Crime Agency.
What’s their goal? To dismantle criminal networks that are behind what they call ‘approval phishing’. It’s a type of fraud that targets crypto users. This scam has already cost victims to lose more than $83 million last year.
How the Approval Phishing Scam Works
The attacks send users fake pop-ups or alerts that look like they’re from a legit app people trust. With that, they trick the user into signing a malicious transaction that then grants the scammer full control of their crypto wallet.
Once the criminal gets the approval, they drain funds immediately from the wallet. And since blockchain transactions aren’t reversible, the victims don’t often get their money back.
Brent Daniels, the deputy assistant director for the US Secret Service’s Office of Field Operations, commented on the initiative. He said that every year, victims lose millions to approve phishing and investment scams.
Daniels is confident that Operation Atlantic will do a good job at stopping this menace. “During Operation Atlantic, we identify and disrupt these scams in real time,” he noted.
Approval Phishing Has Caused Big Problems
Crypto security platform Scam Sniffer took track of all the losses resulting from approval phishing. They found that last year, these scams stole up to $83.85 million across EVM-compatible chains. That number is huge, but it actually represents an 83 percent drop from the $494 million approval phishing stole in 2024.
And just about 106,000 people fell victim to the scams last year. That’s way lower than 332,000 recorded in 2024. Maybe more people are becoming aware and identifying the scam before they sign away their funds.
However, the criminals haven’t given up; they’re still scoring big when they do succeed. The largest single theft last year involved $6.5 million in stETH and aEthWBTC. Criminals stole this through a Permit signature last September. But that’s not all. Eleven different cases each exceeded $1 million in losses.
Law Enforcement Agencies are Taking Part in Operation Atlantic
US Secret Service, the UK’s NCA, the Ontario Provincial Police, and the Ontario Securities Commission are co-hosting Operation Atlantic. Many other agencies are also participating.
These include the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the City of London Police, the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, and the UK Financial Conduct Authority.
Further, private industry partners are also helping by identifying victims and quickly freezing the assets scammers stole.
Jenniffer Spurrel, a detective superintendent from the Ontario Provincial Police, weighed in. She said Operation Atlantic will build on Project Atlas’s legacy. According to Detective Spurrel, Project Atlas showed how powerful teamwork can be in disrupting criminal activities. She further noted that they are “proud to unite international partners to take action in real time.”
Scams Are Becoming More Professional
Despite that the amount of losses seems to be dropping, experts advise everyone to not lose guard. Scammers are becoming more professional in how they conduct their business. A Chainalysis report on phishing-as-a-service networks operating around the world throws more light on this.
The report revealed that one group that calls itself “Smishing Triad” ot “Darcula” ran Lighthouse, a phishing kit vendor, with its base in China. This operation received more than 7,000 crypto deposits and collected $1.5 million over a three year period. The details came from a November 2025 Google lawsuit.
More often than not these scams are connected to cryptocurrency investment fraud, many refer to as pig butchering. In this scheme, the scammers first gain the trust of their victims gradually over time. Then they start convincing them to invest in fake platforms. The approval phishing element then drains whatever funds the victims deposit.
What Victims Should Do
The authorities are assuring victims that they can get help. Anyone who believes scammers are on their tail can visit the agencies’ websites for resources.
The operation will be active throughout this week. And during this time, officials hope to identify people who may be at risk early. The goal is to help them secure their assets before criminals can steal them.
Deputy Director of the UK’s NCA, Paul Foster, said criminals are operating across borders. So their response should also be across borders. That’s why they launched Operation Atlantic to protect the public by giving them early warning and helping people to secure their assets.
As criminals arm themselves with AI-powered voice cloning tools from the dark web, this kind of international cooperation becomes not just helpful but essential to staying ahead of increasingly sophisticated scams.
