Operation Seraphim, led by City of London Police, is the culmination of an innovative and proactive public-private partnership approach to tackling online criminals involved in fraud and money laundering activities. A key part of the operation has been a collaboration between the Cyber Defence Alliance (CDA) and the City of London Police.
Intelligence held by the CDA was utilised to identify online offenders, with machine automation used to assess the intelligence at scale. Partnership working then supported City of London Police (the national lead force for fraud) and their domestic and international partners, to attribute offenders’ real-world identities and build evidence that demonstrates criminality.
This operation is the latest in a series of significant law enforcement activities, either based on or supported by intelligence from CDA collaborative investigations. Operation Seraphim has led to 31 arrests, including 26 in the UK and 5 in Nigeria.
This operation highlights what can be achieved when law enforcement, industry and international partners come together with a shared purpose. The scale and complexity of online fraud means no single organisation can tackle it alone, but through this joint effort we’ve been able to identify offenders, build intelligence and take coordinated action.
This has been a significant team effort across multiple agencies, and it sends a clear message to those involved in fraud that we are actively monitoring these spaces and will take action to disrupt and pursue them
Detective Inspector Joel Gregory, Intelligence Development Team, City of London Police
Operation Seraphim, led by the City of London Police was supported by the Cyber Defence Alliance (CDA), National Crime Agency (NCA), The National Cybercrime Centre (NPF-NCCC) of the Nigeria Police and multiple other UK law enforcement and financial sector organisations including CIFAS and UK Finance. The operation demonstrates the cross border and cross agency collaboration needed to successfully tackle online fraud.
Operation Seraphim represents a significant evolution in collaborative intelligence-led law enforcement support. For the first time, investigators from the Cyber Defence Alliance and detectives from the City of London Police worked side-by-side in a fully integrated operational environment to identify, analyse and target high-harm individuals responsible for exploiting victims across the UK.
Engaging with additional law enforcement partners, the reach of this operation extended across the UK and to high-threat criminals targeting the UK operating from West Africa. This demonstrates both the capability and determination of this public–private operational partnership. It also establishes a new benchmark for ambition, integration and impact in joint operations between law enforcement and industry in tackling serious organised cyber-enabled fraud and financial crime.
Craig Rice, Cyber Defence Alliance
This success clearly demonstrates the effect of public-private collaboration and one of the CDA’s core missions to share resources, expertise and intelligence, to reduce threats, counter fraud actors and disrupt money launderers and their eco system with a strong focus on protecting the public.
Further Reading
Banks working with City of London Police to hunt romance scammers – BBC News