A four-month crime-fighting operation involving police agencies from 25 African countries has led to the arrest of 14 suspected cybercriminals. The police have also identified more than 20,000 cyber networks linked to financial losses of more than $40 million.

Dubbed “Africa Cyber Surge II”, the Interpol-coordinated operation was launched in April 2023 and focused on identifying cybercriminals and compromised infrastructure.

As a result of the operation, three suspects linked to an online scam involving the fraudulent sale of works of art worth $850,000 were arrested in Cameroon.

Authorities in Nigeria arrested a suspect accused of defrauding a Gambian victim. Two money mules linked to scams initiated through messaging platforms were arrested in Mauritius.

In Gambia, the authorities took down 185 IP-addresses associated with malicious activities.

Also, two Darknet sites have been taken down following actions by Cameroonian authorities. In Kenya, authorities took down 615 malware hosters.

Some 150 analytical reports providing intelligence and insight on cyber threats targeting specific countries were distributed to participating countries for investigative and disruptive actions during the operation. The reports contained information on 3,786 malicious command and control servers, 14,134 victim IPs linked to data stealer cases, 1,415 phishing links and domains, 939 scam IPs addresses, more than 400 other malicious URLs, IPs and botnets.

Earlier this month, Interpol and partners dismantled the ‘16shop’ phishing-as-a-service platform that sold tools that allowed cybercriminals to conduct phishing attacks aimed at stealing victims’ personal and financial information.