UK police arrested over 500 suspects and moved to seize and freeze millions connected to suspected fraud in the latest iteration of Operation Henhouse, the National Crime Agency (NCA) has revealed.
Now in its fifth year, the law enforcement operation is led by the NCA and City of London Police. They claimed this year was the strongest yet in the fight against offline and digital fraud.
It led to 557 arrests, 172 voluntary interviews and 249 cease-and-desist notices, as well as account freezing orders against £9m ($12m), and seizures of cash and assets worth £18.1m ($24.3m).
Detective superintendent Oliver Little, from the Lead Force Operations Room at the City of London Police, described this year’s efforts as “a landmark moment” in the ongoing battle against fraud.
“Fraud remains one of the most pervasive crimes affecting individuals and businesses, but wide-scale operations like Henhouse demonstrate our commitment to disrupting offenders, safeguarding victims, and bringing criminals to justice,” he said.
Read more on fraud: NCA Celebrates Multimillion-Pound Fraud Takedowns.
This year, every UK police force and Regional Organised Crime Unit took part in the operation, alongside the Serious Fraud Office, NCA, National Trading Standards, and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Among the wins were:
- The arrest of eight people and account freezing orders of £537,000 ($720,000) by the City of London Police’s Intellectual Property Crime Unit
- The arrest of a 26-year-old man in South London on suspicion of selling fraudulent products and services online
- The identification of six fraud call centers based abroad, resulting in 283 numbers and 6.5 million calls being blocked, saving the economy an estimated £2.1m ($2.8m)
- Seizures of high-value items including gold bars, designer clothing and watches, artwork and vehicles
- An increase in cash seizures of 19%, including £1.1m ($1.5m) in suspected proceeds of crime seized by Merseyside Police
Online Fraud Dominates
Despite the relative success of Operation Henhouse 5, the scale of the challenge facing law enforcement is vast.
UK Finance revealed last year that consumers lost £629m ($843) in the first half of 2025 on the back of 2.1 million cases, an annual increase of 3% and 17% respectively. Two-thirds of those cases apparently began online, while 17% started over the phone.
Brits lost £105m ($140) to romance fraud in 2024 alone, according to City of London Police.
The government is belatedly taking action, with successive administrations being warned that the scale of digital fraud has become a national security risk.
In January, a new national fraud reporting service was launched, with the promise of improved tracking and notifications for victims and real-time analytics and instant intelligence sharing for police.
Earlier this month, the government announced its refreshed fraud strategy, with a new Online Crime Centre tasked with disrupting cyber-criminal operations including overseas scam compounds.
The government has admitted that cyber-enabled fraud costs the UK economy around £14bn ($18.5bn) a year, with one in 14 adults and one in four businesses having been victimized in the past.
