574 Arrested, $3 Million Seized in Crackdown on African Cybercrime Rings

Interpol announced that authorities in Africa made 574 arrests and recovered $3 million in a major crackdown on multiple cybercrime networks. As part of Operation Sentinel, law enforcement in 19 African countries dismantled business email compromise, ransomware, extortion, and other cyber-fraud rings that caused losses of more than $21 million. In Senegal, a sophisticated BEC scheme was blocked before a $7.9 million illicit transfer was cashed out, with the funds frozen before withdrawal.

In Ghana, a ransomware attack disrupted a financial institution’s services and saw $120,000 stolen, with 100 TB encrypted and 30 TB decrypted after a decryption tool was created; six ransomware variants were decrypted. Authorities there also arrested 10 individuals, seizing 100 devices and taking down 30 servers, affecting over 200 victims across Ghana and Nigeria.

In Benin, 106 individuals were suspected of involvement in extortion schemes, with 43 domains and 4,318 social media accounts taken down, while in Cameroon a phishing campaign targeting a vehicle sales platform led to a compromised server and frozen bank accounts.