Operating Lightning takes down SocksEscort proxy network blamed for tens of millions in fraud

Cops from eight countries this week disrupted SocksEscort, a residential proxy service used by criminals to compromise hundreds of thousands of routers worldwide and carry out digital fraud, costing businesses and consumers millions.

"SocksEscort is responsible for tens of millions of dollars in losses due to the activity and utilizing ransomware, ad fraud, account takeovers, identity theft, business email compromises, romance scams, and password spraying, among many others," FBI Deputy Assistant Director Jason Bilnoski told The Register in an exclusive interview.

On Wednesday, the FBI and law enforcement agencies from Austria, France, and the Netherlands seized 34 domains and 23 servers across seven countries as part of Operation Lightning. The US also froze about $3.5 million in cryptocurrency linked to SocksEscort. Private-sector organizations - Lumen's Black Lotus Labs and the Shadowserver Foundation - participated in the takedown.

"The servers that we seized through our law enforcement operation will most definitely ...