Fighting Scams and Fraud: December 2025

Written By Guest User

Operation Shamrock Newsletter

Friends,

It’s hard to believe we’re coming to the end of 2025. It’s been an amazing year in so many ways. Just last month, I traveled to Uganda to meet with survivors of human trafficking, including Small Q, pictured below.

I’ve spoken to so many people — from conference stages to 1:1 conversations with scam survivors. I’ve traveled to Southeast Asia, the Philippines, and Africa to see the compounds and meet trafficking victims.

  • Our Crypto Coalition law-enforcement team has frozen $93 million in stolen funds and returned $16 million to victims.

  • Stolen has just released the 29th episode. The podcast is a weekly conversation with law enforcement, cybersecurity experts, and the victims who’ve lived through scams.

  • We’ve met weekly with survivors to hear their stories so we can improve responses from law enforcement and the banking industry.

  • We’ve held online meetings and webinars for the banking industry, our supporters, and people who want to learn how to educate their communities about scams.

All these experiences have reinforced our commitment: Operation Shamrock plays an important role in raising awareness of the scam industry and in bringing organizations together to fight it more effectively. To date, we’ve done all this with an initial gift from one donor. Imagine what we could do with your support.

Erin West
Founder, Operation Shamrock

All-Shamrock Meeting

Watch our recent meeting or read the wrap-up to learn about our efforts to expose and fight the scam industry run by transnational organized crime. We discuss future directions and celebrate the momentum achieved so far. >> Watch Now

Stolen Podcast

In case you missed them, check out our November episodes.

5 Stories Worth Reading

Check out the top news stories on our website in November.

  1. The Coin Laundry: A Global Cryptocurrency Investigation
    ICIJ | Crypto exchanges empower a shadow economy that profits from crime. Meanwhile, scam victims have little hope of justice.

  2. How Scammers Use Crypto ATMs to Steal from Victims
    The New York Times | Fraud losses tied to crypto ATMs totaled $246.7 million in 2024. By July 2025, losses had already reached $240 million.

  3. Scam Center Strike Force Battles Crypto Investment Fraud
    U.S. DOJ | Teams focus on identifying, pursuing, and bringing criminal leaders to justice and preventing U.S. infrastructure from being weaponized.

  4. Meta Earns Billions on Scams and Fraud
    Reuters | Meta platforms display 15 billion scam ads a day. In fact, Meta projected that 10% of its 2024 revenue would come from ads for scams and banned goods.

  5. Trafficking of East Africans into Scam Operations
    Freedom Collaborative | A new report documents how East African nationals are deceived and forced into criminal activity within Southeast Asia’s scam industry.

How to Support Operation Shamrock

Transnational organized crime syndicates steal hundreds of billions of dollars, household by household, every year.

DONATE

We realize that many people who receive this newsletter are survivors of the scam industry. Sharing our message to educate others is a great way to support our mission. Donations fund our operations to continue the work we’ve started and build our capacity to expand education, foster more private-public connections, and take meaningful action in the fight against scams.

Operation Shamrock is registered in the U.S. as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation.

Guest User
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Operation Shamrock: The Year in Review