An Interpol-coordinated initiative called Operation Sentinel led to the arrest of 574 individuals and the recovery of $3 million linked to business email compromise, extortion, and ransomware incidents.
Between October 27 and November 27, the investigation, which involved law enforcement in 19 countries, took down more than 6,000 malicious links and decrypted six distinct ransomware variants.
Interpol says that the cybercrime cases investigated are connected to more than $21 million in financial losses.
The international police agency highlights the following successes during the recent Operation Sentinel:
- Senegal: Authorities stopped a $7.9 million BEC wire transfer targeting a petroleum company by freezing accounts before funds were withdrawn
- Ghana: A financial institution lost $120,000 and suffered encryption of 100 TB of data in a ransomware attack. Law enforcement analyzed the malware, developed a decryption tool, and recovered 30 TB; multiple arrests followed
- Ghana/Nigeria: A cross-border scam mimicking well-known fast-food brands defrauded 200+ victims of over $400,000. The action resulted in ten suspects arrested, over 100 devices seized, and 30 servers taken offline
- Benin: 106 arrests, 43 malicious domains removed, and 4,318 scam-linked social media accounts shut down
- Cameroon: Rapid response to an online vehicle sales scam led to tracing a compromised server and issuing an emergency bank freeze within hours
Source: INTERPOL
“The scale and sophistication of cyberattacks across Africa are accelerating, especially against critical sectors like finance and energy,” said Neal Jetton, Director of Cybercrime at Interpol.
“The outcomes from Operation Sentinel reflect the commitment of African law enforcement agencies, working in close coordination with international partners.”
Partners from the private sector who aided in the investigations include Team Cymru, The Shadowserver Foundation, Trend Micro, TRM Labs, and Uppsala Security. The companies helped trace IP addresses used in ransomware and sextortion attacks, and also in freezing cybercrime proceeds.
In August, Interpol coordinated another Africa-focused operation, codenamed ‘Serengeti 2.0,’ that resulted in the arrest of 1,209 suspects of cybercrime. Authorities recovered $97.4 million of illicit funds and dismantled 11,432 malicious infrastructures linked to attacks on 87,858 victims.
In March, another Interpol-led international crackdown named ‘Operation Red Card’ apprehended 306 suspects, seized 1,842 devices, and disrupted scams that victimized over 5,000 people.
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