Police arrests 300 suspects linked to African cybercrime rings

African law enforcement authorities have arrested 306 suspects as part of ‘Operation Red Card,’ an INTERPOL-led international crackdown targeting cross-border cybercriminal networks.

Between November 2024 and February 2025, authorities seized 1,842 devices allegedly used in mobile banking, investment, and messaging app scams linked to over 5,000 victims.

“Ahead of the operation, countries exchanged criminal intelligence on key targets. This intelligence was enriched by INTERPOL with insights into criminal modus operandi using data from its private sector partners—Group-IB, Kaspersky and Trend Micro,” the international police organization said.

“The seven participating countries were Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Togo and Zambia.”

Nigerian police recently detained 130 individuals (including 113 foreign nationals) linked to investment fraud and online casino scams. They concealed their illicit earnings in digital assets and were recruited from various countries, operating in multiple languages. Some workers in these scam centers may also be human trafficking victims.

Zambian police also apprehended 14 suspects, part of a cybercrime gang that was allegedly hacking into victims’ phones via malicious links that installed malware. This allowed them to control messaging accounts and access banking apps, spreading scams through victims’ messaging apps. 

In South Africa, police officers arrested 40 individuals and confiscated over 53 computers and over 1,000 SIM cards used in a SIM box fraud operation that rerouted international calls as local ones, facilitating large-scale SMS phishing attacks.

Rwandan authorities also detained another 45 individuals linked to a network involved in social engineering scams, who defrauded victims of over USD 305,000 in 2024. Their strategies included impersonating telecom staff and pretending to be injured relatives seeking financial help.

“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,” said Neal Jetton, INTERPOL’s Director of the Cybercrime Directorate.

“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.”

This is the latest INTERPOL-led operation targeting cybercrime in Africa in recent years, with multi-million operations either disrupted or dismantled after previous joint actions.

Between September 2nd and October 31st, another law enforcement action coordinated by Interpol and dubbed ‘Operation Serengeti’ led to the arrest of 1,006 suspects believed to be part of cybercrime links behind ransomware, digital extortion, business email compromise (BEC), and online scams.

As part of ‘Operation Africa Cyber Surge II,’ launched in April 2023, law enforcement agencies from 25 African countries also disrupted over 20,000 cybercrime networks involved in extortion, phishing, BEC, and online scams, responsible for losses of over $40,000,000.