Online fraud networks have just suffered one of the heaviest blows ever dealt to them on the continent. On Thursday, 22 October, Interpol announced the results of Operation Serengeti III, conducted from 29 June to 31 August 2026: 1,462 suspects arrested, 10,909 malicious digital infrastructures disabled and more than $105 million, roughly CFA 61 billion, recovered.
The crackdown involved law enforcement agencies from 21 countries, the vast majority of them African, working alongside the United States. Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal were among the participants. Investigators went after a wide range of digital crimes, from ransomware to investment scams, along with online extortion and business email compromise. Their approach relied on intelligence about suspicious domain names, IP addresses and the servers used by fraudsters.
The scale of the damage shows how serious the problem has become. According to Interpol, the schemes uncovered caused $385 million in losses and claimed 65,929 victims worldwide.
Nigeria stands out as the most exposed country in West Africa. Investigators there uncovered a phishing campaign through which criminals had gathered 2.1 million email addresses. Another probe revealed transfers of more than $2.4 million tied to a suspected investment fraud. Further south, Angola shut down two illegal cryptocurrency mining centres and seized 2,000 devices, with recovered electrical equipment worth over $1 million. In Tanzania, a lending app was being used as a front for a fraudulent scheme, while the Republic of the Congo made 30 arrests.
This success owes much to cooperation between public authorities and private companies. Several cybersecurity firms, including Kaspersky, Fortinet, Meta, Group-IB and Team Cymru, shared their data with investigators. Funding came jointly from the European Union and the Council of Europe under the GLACY-e project. For Neal Jetton, Interpol’s Director of Cybercrime, the operation proves that international collaboration remains an effective weapon against networks that pay no attention to borders.
The figures also reflect a steady build-up. The first Serengeti operation, carried out in late 2024 with Afripol, resulted in 1,006 arrests across 19 countries. The second, in summer 2025, recorded 1,209 arrests and $97.4 million recovered. Serengeti III outperforms both on every count.
The fight is far from over, however. Interpol’s 2026 Africa Cyberthreat Assessment notes that criminals are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence, making their scams more convincing and harder to detect, while financial losses keep rising. Several cases remain open, and further arrests in the coming months cannot be ruled out.