Interpol operation arrests 300 suspects linked to African cybercrime rings

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Interpol reveals successful law enforcement operation across seven African countries
More than 300 people were arrested, and around 2,000 electronic devices seized
Roughly $100,000 was recovered, Interpol says

Interpol and a coalition of seven African law enforcement agencies have recently arrested more than 300 people and seized almost 2,000 electronic devices in a major crackdown on cybercrime.

The agency said Operation Red Card, which was active between November 2024 and February 2025, aimed to “disrupt and dismantle cross-border criminal networks which cause significant harm to individuals and businesses”.

More than 5,000 people fell victim, Interpol said, adding that over $305,000 was stolen through social engineering scams in Rwanda alone. Just over $100,000 was recovered. The operation included Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Togo and Zambia.

Help from cybersecurity experts

The individuals were involved in all sorts of criminal activity, Interpol said.

They were running mobile banking scams, investment fraud, online casino scams, SIM box fraud and smishing, malware-based phone hacking, impersonation, and more. They were laundering the stolen money through digital assets.

Interpol was also provided intelligence by three cybersecurity outfits: Group-IB, Trend Micro, and Kaspersky.

The latter firm said it analyzed a sample of Android malware allegedly used to target African users and shared it with law enforcement, together with data on related infrastructure.

Interpol added Nigerian authorities established, “some of the people working in the scam centres may also be victims of human trafficking, forced or coerced into criminal activities.”

The findings also led to the police seizing 26 vehicles, 16 houses, 39 plots of land, and 685 devices. It is not known if the assets were purchased with stolen money.

“The success of Operation Red Card demonstrates the power of international cooperation in combating cybercrime, which knows no borders and can have devastating effects on individuals and communities. The recovery of significant assets and devices, as well as the arrest of key suspects, sends a strong message to cybercriminals that their activities will not go unpunished, commented Neal Jetton, INTERPOL’s Director of the Cybercrime Directorate.

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Sead is a seasoned freelance journalist based in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He writes about IT (cloud, IoT, 5G, VPN) and cybersecurity (ransomware, data breaches, laws and regulations). In his career, spanning more than a decade, he’s written for numerous media outlets, including Al Jazeera Balkans. He’s also held several modules on content writing for Represent Communications.