An international cybercrime operation against online scams has resulted in 651 arrests and recovered more than $4.3 million, as law enforcement agencies from 16 African countries joined forces to combat escalating digital fraud.
Operation Red Card 2.0 Targets Investment and Mobile Fraud Networks
Specifically, the initiative, codenamed Operation Red Card 2.0, ran between December 8, 2025 and January 30, 2026, according to INTERPOL. Investigators targeted infrastructure and actors behind high-yield investment scams, mobile money fraud, and fraudulent mobile loan applications, disrupting key cybercriminal networks.
Moreover, the participating countries included Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Chad, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Authorities coordinated the effort under the African Joint Operation against Cybercrime (AFJOC) framework, strengthening cross-border enforcement.
“During the eight-week operation, investigations exposed scams linked to over USD 45 million in financial losses and identified 1,247 victims, predominantly from the African continent but also from other regions of the world,” INTERPOL said in a press release.
In addition, authorities confiscated 2,341 devices and took down 1,442 malicious IPs, domains, and servers, along with related infrastructure, significantly weakening criminal operations.
Major National Crackdowns Across Africa
Notably, several countries reported high-impact enforcement actions:
- Nigeria: Authorities dismantled a high-yield investment fraud ring that recruited young individuals to carry out cyber-enabled crimes using phishing, identity theft, social engineering, and fake digital asset investment schemes. They also took down more than 1,000 fraudulent social media accounts.
- Nigeria: Authorities arrested six members of a sophisticated cybercrime syndicate for breaching the internal platform of a major telecommunications provider through compromised staff login credentials. The scheme involved stealing “significant volumes of airtime and data for illegal resale.”
- Kenya: Authorities arrested 27 individuals connected to a fraud scheme that used messaging apps, social media, and fictitious testimonials to lure victims into fake investments by promising huge returns. Criminals displayed bogus account statements or dashboards to maintain the illusion, then blocked victims from making withdrawals.
- Côte d’Ivoire: Authorities arrested 58 individuals and seized 240 mobile phones, 25 laptops, and over 300 SIM cards to disrupt a Predatory mobile loan fraud scheme. The criminals targeted vulnerable populations through fake mobile applications and Messaging services, Enticing them with Promises of Unsecured loans and then Trapping them with extra fees, abusive Debt-collection practices, and theft of sensitive personal and financial data.
“These organized cybercriminal syndicates inflict devastating financial and psychological harm on individuals, businesses, and entire communities with their false promises,” Neal Jetton, INTERPOL’s director of the Cybercrime Directorate, said.
“Operation Red Card highlights the importance of collaboration when combating transnational cybercrime. I encourage all victims of cybercrime to reach out to law enforcement for help.”
Finally, the second phase of Red Card follows the first wave of the operation, which ran between November 2024 and February 2025. At that time, INTERPOL announced the arrest of 306 suspects and the seizure of 1,842 devices, further Underscoring the Sustained effort to Dismantle Cybercrime networks across the continent.
Source: TheHackerNews
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