Security Week

300 Arrested in Crackdown on Cybercrime Rings in Africa

Ionut Arghire March 25, 2025

More than 300 suspects were arrested in seven African countries in an Interpol-led crackdown on cybercriminal rings targeting businesses and individuals alike.

Running between November 2024 and February 2025, the international effort, named Operation Red Card, was aimed at dismantling hacking groups that mainly engaged in mobile banking and investment and messaging app scams.

As part of the operation, authorities in Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Togo, and Zambia made 306 arrests, seized 1,842 devices, and recovered hundreds of thousands of dollars from the suspects. According to Interpol, over 5,000 entities fell victim to the cybercriminal networks.

Nigerian authorities arrested 130 individuals, including 113 foreign nationals, for their involvement in illegal schemes such as online casino and investment fraud. 685 devices, 26 vehicles, 16 houses, and 39 plots of land were seized.

Working in scam centers, some of the individuals might have been victims to human trafficking, forced to engage in cybercriminal activities in multiple languages.

Law enforcement in South Africa arrested 40 suspects engaging in a sophisticated SIM box fraud scheme, and seized 53 desktops and towers, as well as over 1,000 SIM cards.

Rwandan authorities arrested 45 individuals believed to be involved in a cybercrime ring engaging in social engineering scams, seized 292 devices and recovered over $100,000. The group caused losses of more than $300,000 in 2024.

The suspects contacted the victims, either posing as telecommunications employees to present fake ‘jackpot’ wins, thus convincing the victims to share sensitive information, to gain access to their mobile banking accounts, or as injured family members, to ask for financial assistance.

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In Zambia, 14 individuals were arrested for their involvement in a phone-hacking operation. The hackers sent messages with malicious links to install malware and take over the victim’s device, including their baking applications. They would then use the victim’s messaging app to send the malicious link to their contacts.

As part of Operation Red Card, authorities worked with cybersecurity firms, including Group-IB, Kaspersky, and Trend Micro, for threat intelligence gathering and sharing.