Dakar (Senegal), Aug 22 (AP) A major cybercrime crackdown coordinated by Interpol has led to the arrest of 1,209 suspects across Africa and the recovery of nearly USD 97.4 million, the organisation announced Friday.
Dubbed Operation Serengeti 2.0, the operation took place between June and August. It brought together investigators from 18 African countries and the United Kingdom to fight harmful cybercrimes, including inheritance scams, ransomware and business email compromise.
Altogether, the scams targeted nearly 88,000 victims, the international police organisation said in a statement.
From cryptocurrency mining to online scams
Interpol said that authorities in Angola dismantled 25 cryptocurrency mining centres where 60 Chinese nationals had been mining cryptocurrency. The operation resulted in the confiscation of equipment worth over USD 37 million; the government now plans to use the equipment to support power distribution in vulnerable areas.
In Zambia, the operation dismantled an online investment scheme that defrauded more than 65,000 victims of an estimated USD 300 million through a fraudulent high-return cryptocurrency scam.
“The scammers lured victims into investing in cryptocurrency through extensive advertising campaigns promising high-yield returns. Victims were then instructed to download multiple apps to participate,” Interpol said. It said that 15 people had been arrested and that authorities seized evidence, including domains, mobile numbers and bank accounts.
In locating the scam centre in Zambia, authorities also disrupted a suspected human trafficking network, Interpol said.
Interpol also said it dismantled a transnational inheritance scam in the Ivory Coast, which had originated in Germany. Victims of that scam were tricked into paying fees to claim fake inheritances, causing USD 1.6 million in losses.
“Despite being one of the oldest-running internet frauds, inheritance scams continue to generate significant funds for criminal organisations,” it said.
Interpol's role
Interpol, which has 196 member countries and celebrated its centennial last year, is the world's largest international police network to combat international crime. Headquartered in Lyons, France, it works to help national police forces communicate with each other and track suspects and criminals in areas like counterterrorism, financial crime, child pornography, cybercrime and organised crime.
In recent years, it has grappled with new challenges, including a growing caseload of cybercrime and child sex abuse, and increasing divisions among its member countries.
Last year, in the first Operation Serengeti, Interpol arrested over 1,000 people in operations that had targeted 35,000 victims. (AP) SKS
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