Law enforcement across 19 African countries arrested 574 suspects and recovered approximately $3 million in a month-long cybercrime crackdown, dubbed Operation Sentinel. The operation primarily targeted three forms of cybercrimes – business email compromise schemes, digital extortion, and ransomware attacks.
Interpol, who coordinated the logistics of this operation revealed that these operations costed Africans financial losses that exceeded $21 million.
The initiative conducted between October 27 and November 27, also resulted in over 6,000 malicious links being taken down and six distinct ransomware variants decrypted as authorities dismantled their fraud networks exploiting critical sectors including finance and energy.
These three forms of cybercrimes are also identified as “growing threats” in INTERPOL’s 2025 Africa Cyber Threat Assessment Report, demonstrating the accelerating scale of cyberattacks across the continent.
Read: Africa Faces a Digital Sextortion Crisis as Numbers Surge Across the Continent
Major Cases Prevented Millions in Losses
In Senegal, a major petroleum company detected a business email compromise scheme where fraudsters infiltrated internal email systems and impersonated executives to authorize a fraudulent wire transfer of $7.9 million. Senegalese authorities urgently froze destination accounts, successfully halting the transfer before funds could be withdrawn.
A Ghanaian financial institution suffered a ransomware attack that encrypted 100 terabytes of data and stole approximately $120,000, disrupting critical services. Ghanaian authorities conducted advanced malware analysis, identifying the ransomware strain and developing a decryption tool that recovered nearly 30 terabytes of data. Multiple suspects were arrested.
Ghanaian authorities also dismantled a major cyber-fraud network operating across Ghana and Nigeria that defrauded more than 200 victims of over $400,000. Using professionally designed websites and mobile apps, scammers mimicked well-known fast-food brands, collecting payments but never delivering orders. Ten suspects were arrested with over 100 digital devices seized and 30 fraudulent servers taken offline.
In Benin, 43 malicious domains were taken down and 4,318 social media accounts linked to extortion schemes and scams were shut down, leading to 106 arrests. Cameroonian law enforcement reacted quickly after two victims reported a scam involving an online vehicle sales platform, tracing the phishing campaign to a compromised server and issuing emergency bank freezes within hours.
“The scale and sophistication of cyberattacks across Africa are accelerating, especially against critical sectors like finance and energy,” stated Neal Jetton, INTERPOL’s Director of Cybercrime.
