An international law enforcement operation across 16 African countries resulted in 651 arrests and more than USD 4.3 million recovered between December 8, 2025 and January 30, 2026, said INTERPOL in a press release.
KEY FACTS
- Incident International operation targeting online scams
- Arrests 651 people detained
- Recovery More than USD 4.3 million recovered
- Timeline December 8, 2025 to January 30, 2026
- Scope 16 African countries participated
The initiative, codenamed Operation Red Card 2.0, targeted infrastructure and actors behind high yield investment scams, mobile money fraud, and fraudulent mobile loan applications across the region.
Authorities confiscated 2,341 devices and removed 1,442 malicious IP addresses, domains, and servers. Law enforcement also disabled more than 1,000 fraudulent social media accounts in one Nigerian case.
Notable case actions included the dismantling of a Nigerian high yield investment fraud ring, the arrest of six suspects for compromising a telecom platform to steal airtime and data, 27 arrests in Kenya for a messaging app investment scam, and 58 arrests in Côte d’Ivoire linked to predatory mobile loan apps.
Investigations exposed scams tied to over USD 45 million in losses and identified 1,247 victims, mostly in Africa but including other regions. The operation was conducted under the African Joint Operation against Cybercrime framework.
WHY IT MATTERS
The coordinated action removed infrastructure and detained actors involved in transnational fraud, actions that may reduce immediate scam capacity and help recover funds for victims.