INTERPOL has coordinated a first-of-its-kind cybercrime crackdown across the Middle East and North Africa that led to 201 arrests and the identification of an additional 382 suspects. The operation, run by 13 countries from October 2025 to February 2026, targeted phishing and malware infrastructure and aimed to prevent future losses while arresting perpetrators behind these activities.
According to INTERPOL, 3,867 victims were identified and 53 servers were seized during the Ramz operation, which disrupted a phishing-as-a-service scheme and other cybercriminal activities across the region. The crackdown included actions against a phishing operation in Algeria, with authorities confiscating a server, a computer, a mobile phone, and hard drives containing phishing software, and similar seizures in Morocco and Oman, where a private residence server held sensitive information.
Group-IB, which participated in the effort, said it provided actionable intelligence on over 5,000 compromised accounts, including those tied to government infrastructure, while officials in Jordan reported arrests related to financial fraud schemes involving trafficking victims. Countries taking part included Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Tunisia, and the UAE.