Interpol operation arrests 300 suspects linked to African cybercrime rings

Date:
Tue, 25 Mar 2025 11:23:14 +0000

Description:
Suspects were allegedly involved in wire fraud, phishing, malware attacks,
and money laundering.

FULL STORY

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, Cte 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, INTERPOLs Director of the Cybercrime Directorate.

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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/interpol-operation-arrests-300-suspects -linked-to-african-cybercrime-rings

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