Operation Falcon: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

Operation Falcon was a major American investigation of internet child pornography announced on 16 January 2004. Investigators from the FBI, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Postal Service identified an American company that provided credit card support to a number of sites physically located in the former Soviet Union, as well as customers.

The operation primarily targeted the financial support of the child pornography industry, resulting in arrests in New Jersey, France and Spain, and American customers. The US is seeking extradition of the three arrested suspects in France and Spain, and is working with Belarus to have one there arrested. Some of the sites themselves may be out of reach for the US.

Paying customers were tracked with the cooperation of companies such as MasterCard and Visa; customers targeted so far (ca. 40) were chosen because they posed "the most immediate threat of harm to children," either because they have criminal histories or their jobs put them in contact with children, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.