AI tools have eliminated the technical barriers to large-scale cyber fraud, turning organized crime groups into industrial-scale operators and funneling proceeds to terrorist organizations and human trafficking networks, Interpol’s cybercrime director and the agency’s March 2026 Global Financial Fraud Threat Assessment confirmed.

Neal Jetton, director of cybercrime at Interpol, said off-the-shelf AI tools and automated phishing kits have made it possible for operators with no technical expertise to run fraud campaigns that once required skilled hackers.

“What makes it so difficult is that these tools allow pretty much beginners to actually be able to go and commit fraud at scale,” Jetton told Politico.

Fraud is no longer a peripheral threat, it is at the centre of polycriminality, intersecting with organized crime, human trafficking and cybercrime.

🔎 The 2026 INTERPOL Global Financial Fraud Threat Assessment, released today at the #GlobalFraudSummit, highlights:

🔵 The… pic.twitter.com/1pg2yC0Dmk

— INTERPOL (@INTERPOL_HQ) March 16, 2026

The threat assessment found AI-enhanced fraud is 4.5 times more profitable than traditional methods. It also flagged “agentic AI” systems, AI tools capable of autonomously planning and executing fraud campaigns from target selection through ransom demands. In parts of Africa, terrorist groups have turned to online fraud and crypto-based scams to fund operations.

Interpol Secretary General Valdecy Urquiza said the agency is “witnessing the industrialization of fraud.”

The FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) report included its first dedicated section on AI-related crime, logging 22,364 AI-linked complaints and $893 million in losses. Total U.S. cybercrime losses that year hit a record $20.87 billion.

Organized crime groups are outsourcing technical work through cybercrime marketplaces selling phishing-as-a-service kits, turnkey platforms that let operators launch fraud campaigns without coding. Scam compounds across Southeast Asia, often staffed by trafficking victims, generate fraud at industrial volume.

Interpol launched Operation Shadow Storm, a UK-funded taskforce targeting scam compounds initially in Southeast Asia. A separate operation, Synergia III, concluded in January after producing 94 arrests and taking down over 45,000 malicious IP addresses across 72 countries.

While individual operations shut scam centres down, the criminal leaders behind them remain difficult to identify, hiding behind intermediaries and shell companies.

To help close this gap, INTERPOL is launching Operation Shadow Storm, a new international task force funded by the… pic.twitter.com/DkZF7il6uf

— INTERPOL (@INTERPOL_HQ) March 17, 2026

“What we’ve seen is that AI has allowed the proliferation, expansion of crime that’s already been existent,” Jetton said.