A UAE-led international operation targeting AI-enabled fraud and cross-border networks identified more than $39 billion in funds and cryptocurrencies linked to scam activity.

Operation Confrontation Ghost, which ran from 1 July to 30 September, brought together law enforcement agencies from 30 countries including the UAE, UK, China and France. It also convened INTERPOL, the Global Anti-Scam Alliance (GASA) and 13 technology and financial sector companies including Huawei, Meta Platforms, TikTok and Mastercard.

Authorities exchanged more than 9,000 pieces of intelligence during the three month operation, which focused on AI-enabled fraud, digital financial crime and technology-facilitated sextortion which often targeted children and teenagers.

The initiative identified more than 15,500 victims and 3,500 suspects, resulting in more than 960 arrests and raids on 29 fraud centres. Investigators also shut down more than 570 social media accounts linked to fraudulent activity and identified 4,126 bank accounts associated with scams. Efforts to recover the identified assets remain ongoing.

Dana Marzouqi, DG of the International Affairs Bureau at the UAE Ministry of Interior, noted the Operation Confrontation Ghost “transformed international shared intelligence into coordinated operational impact”, adding it boosted “collective resilience for all participating nations”.

Concerns over the safety of increasingly autonomous AI systems have been mounting worldwide. AI chiefs including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, Google Deepmind co-founder Demis Hassabis and Elon Musk have called to slowdown the pace of frontier AI development and establish regulatory guardrails, warning AI driven-cyberattacks could pose an existential risk to humanity.

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Middle Eastern operators Zain Group and Ooredoo Group officially launched a joint venture tower platform after closing the first phase of the transaction by combining portfolios in their home markets.

The operators stated they have brought together the assets of Zain Kuwait and Ooredoo Qatar, comprising 4,000 towers in total.

They each own a 50% stake in the platform.

Announced in 2023, the tower company was pitched as the largest of its kind in the MENA region, with a combined value of $2.2 billion.

At the time, the companies and UAE-based TASC Towers stated the entity would comprise nearly 30,000 towers in Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Tunisia, Iraq and Algeria.

In the latest statement, the companies highlighted how the transaction is expected to create significant value through greater scale, capital efficiencies and a dedicated operating model focused on passive telecoms infrastructure.

Additional towers are expected “to be integrated progressively into the platform”, subject to closing conditions and regulatory approvals.

They further pointed to opportunities for operators to access infrastructure in a more capital-efficient manner while supporting the region’s digital infrastructure.

Zain CEO Bader Al-Kharafi said the first closing of the tower platform “reflects our shared strategy of creating focused, scalable and sustainable platforms”.

Ooredoo counterpart Aziz Aluthman Fakhroo added it is “now executing across every digital infrastructure segment identified in our strategy as we continue building a leading regional portfolio”.

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