An Interpol-led operation has led to the arrest of 1,006 suspects across 19 African countries and 134,089 malicious infrastructures and networks were taken down as part of a coordinated effort to disrupt cybercrime in Africa.
The law enforcement operation dubbed Serengeti, took place between September 2 and October 31, 2024, and targeted criminals behind ransomware, business email compromise (BEC), digital extortion, and online scams.
The participating nations in the operation were Algeria, Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
The operation was coordinated by the Interpol and Afripol based on intelligence provided by operational partners Cybercrime Atlas, Fortinet, Group-IB, Kaspersky, Team Cymru, Trend Micro, and Uppsala Security.
The investigators report that the suspects and infrastructures were linked to at least 35,224 identified victims who lost nearly $193 million. Operation Serengeti recovered roughly $44 million.
In Senegal, a $6 million Ponzi scheme affecting 1,811 victims was dismantled and the authorities arrested eight people, including five Chinese nationals. They also seized 900 SIM cards, $11,000 in cash, phones, laptops, and copies of ID cards of the victims.
A virtual casino in Luanda was dismantled that targeted Brazilian and Nigerian gamblers with the aim of defrauding them through an online platform and offering winnings to members who recruited new subscribers.
In Kenya, the agencies cracked a case of online credit card fraud linked to $8.6 million in losses. Nigerian police arrested a man suspected of running online investment scams that earned upwards of $300,000.
The operation targeted the most significant threat actors and threats identified in the 2024 Africa Cyber Threat Assessment Report, such as ransomware, business email compromise (BEC), digital extortion, and online scams.
Image Credits : Africa Cybersecurity Magazine
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