Law enforcement has announced the arrest of a 33-year-old Dutch citizen on suspicion of operating the AVCheck platform, an online anti-malware testing service that was shut down last May during Operation Endgame.
The Attorney General’s Office (Openbaar Ministerie, OM) announced the arrest earlier this week, although the suspect’s name has not yet been released.
The man was arrested last weekend at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport . According to law enforcement, he fled the Netherlands and took refuge in the United Arab Emirates shortly after AVCheck closed.
“The suspect had been under international surveillance for some time before being apprehended by the Royal Gendarmerie at Schiphol Airport on Sunday,” the OM said in a statement. “Data storage devices belonging to the suspect were seized.”
The suspect is linked to two companies through which he allegedly provided cybercriminals and malware developers with access to the AVCheck platform.
Recall that the service was shut down on May 27, 2025, as part of the second wave of Operation Endgame , a joint initiative by Dutch, US, and Finnish authorities. As reported by Dutch law enforcement at the time, AVCheck was one of the largest international antivirus bypass services , helping cybercriminals assess the stealthiness of their malware and its ability to evade detection.
This allowed attackers to understand which security systems their threats could bypass and, consequently, which organizations they could attack.
“Cybercriminals don’t just create malware; they refine it to inflict maximum damage,” FBI officials noted after the service’s closure. “By using antivirus services, attackers hone their weapons against the most robust security systems to better evade firewalls, evade forensic analysis, and inflict maximum damage to victims’ systems.”
Operation Endgame, which shut down AVCheck and led to the subsequent arrest of the 33-year-old , has become one of the largest international campaigns against cybercrime. Coordination between intelligence agencies from several countries has shown that even suspects hiding abroad remain under surveillance and could be arrested.
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