A sweeping international cybercrime operation coordinated by INTERPOL has led to 651 arrests across 16 African countries and the recovery of more than USD 4.3 million linked to online scams.

The operation, codenamed Red Card 2.0, ran from 8 December 2025 to 30 January 2026 and targeted criminal networks behind high-yield investment scams, mobile money fraud, and fraudulent mobile loan applications.

According to INTERPOL, investigations during the eight-week campaign uncovered scams responsible for over USD 45 million in financial losses and identified 1,247 victims, most of them in Africa but also in other regions worldwide. Authorities seized 2,341 devices and dismantled 1,442 malicious IPs, domains, and servers used to facilitate the fraud.

Key National Successes

• Nigeria: Police dismantled a high-yield investment fraud ring that recruited young people to run phishing and identity theft schemes. Over 1,000 fake social media accounts were taken down, and investigators seized a residential property built by the syndicate leader to serve as an operational hub. In a separate case, six suspects were arrested for infiltrating the internal platform of a major telecommunications provider, illegally siphoning airtime and data.
• Kenya: Authorities arrested 27 suspects linked to fraudulent investment schemes. Victims were lured with fabricated account statements and dashboards, but withdrawal requests were systematically blocked.
• Côte d’Ivoire: Police made 58 arrests and seized 240 mobile phones, 25 laptops, and more than 300 SIM cards in a crackdown on mobile loan fraud. Victims were misled by deceptive loan apps that imposed hidden fees, abusive debt collection practices, and harvested sensitive personal data.

INTERPOL supported the operation by sharing intelligence, facilitating real-time information exchange, and providing training in digital forensic tools. The organization worked closely with partners including Cybercrime Atlas, Team Cymru, Trend Micro, TRM Labs, and Uppsala Security to supply critical data and expertise.

Neal Jetton, INTERPOL’s Director of the Cybercrime Directorate, emphasized the human impact of these scams:

“These organized cybercriminal syndicates inflict devastating financial and psychological harm on individuals, businesses and entire communities with their false promises. Operation Red Card highlights the importance of collaboration when combatting transnational cybercrime.”

Operation Red Card 2.0 was conducted under the African Joint Operation against Cybercrime (AFJOC), funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. It also received support from the Global Action on Cybercrime Enhanced (GLACY-e) project, a joint initiative of the European Union and the Council of Europe.

Participating countries included Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Chad, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.