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FBI outlines Operation Riptide campaign and prevention push, says teams warned roughly 100,000 people and blocked hundreds of millions
Summary
The Federal Bureau of Investigation described Operation Riptide as a coordinated, whole-of-government push to impose cost on cybercriminals. FBI leaders said prevention work (Operation Level Up) has warned roughly 99,900 people and blocked about $630 million in transfers while international takedowns removed criminal infrastructure.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation on the podcast Ahead of the Threat described Operation Riptide as a two-month, whole-of-government campaign to impose cost on transnational cybercriminals and cyber-enabled fraudsters.
"No safe harbor," said Brett Leatherman, assistant director of the FBI's cyber division, explaining the effort will use domestic and international partners to target criminals, their money and the infrastructure they use. Leatherman said the campaign launched on June 9 and spans the agency's cyber and criminal divisions, all 56 field offices and legal attaches overseas.
Heath Yanke, assistant director of the FBI's criminal division, cited the FBI's IC3 report for 2025, saying the Internet Crime Complaint Center recorded roughly $21.21 billion in reported losses and more than 1,000,000 complaints, a roughly 26% increase from 2024; he added that about $17.7 billion of the losses were cyber-enabled fraud. "We saw a drastic increase," Yanke said, and said the numbers understate the human harm behind the statistics.
Yanke described Operation Level Up as the campaign's prevention pillar: field teams identify ongoing scams, contact victims and warn them before money is sent. He said the FBI has warned about 99,900 people (transcript phrasing was unclear on precise count) and has saved more than $630 million by stopping transfers and taking down fraudulent domains. "Seventy-seven percent of them were completely unaware they were being targeted," he said, and the teams have referred dozens of desperate victims to suicide-intervention services.
Leatherman and Yanke highlighted coordinated technical operations, including a takedown supported by international partners of a service referred to on the show as "First VPN," which they said operated across servers in 27 countries and had been used by ransomware groups and other criminal actors. Yanke noted a recent effort removed 584 fraudulent domains used to facilitate investment scams.
Both officials framed takedowns, warnings and traditional law enforcement work as complementary. "You can disrupt infrastructure and warn victims while working to identify and extradite operators," Yanke said, pointing to a recent extradition from Thailand secured during Operation Riptide.
The episode urged victims to report suspected fraud to IC3 and directed listeners to fbi.gov/cyber for more information on Operation Riptide and related resources. Leatherman said industry, domestic partners and international allies would be central to sustaining the campaign's effects over the next 60 days.
