Fraud: Interpol arrests 651, recovers over $4.3m in Nigeria, Kenya and others in 8 weeks

Joint operation by police authorities has made 651 arrests and recovered over $4.3 million from fraud and online scam activities across 16 African countries within eight weeks. 

In a statement on Thursday, the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL) noted that the operation tagged “Operation Red Card 2.0” was deployed across these countries between 8 December 2025 and 30 January 2026. The operation was conducted under the African Joint Operation against Cybercrime (AFJOC), an initiative funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.

The mission targeted infrastructure and actors behind high-yield investment scams, mobile money fraud and fraudulent mobile loan applications. INTERPOL said that local authorities in each of the countries joined the operation.

African countries involved are Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Chad, Gabon, Gambia, and Ghana. Others are Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The international police organisation revealed that during the period, coordinated investigations exposed scams that led to more than $45 million in financial losses suffered by 1,247 people. While victims were predominantly from Africa, it spread to the rest of the world. 

Aside from the financial losses, police authorities also seized 2,341 devices and took down 1,442 malicious IPs, domains and servers, and other related infrastructure.

Reacting to the development, INTERPOL’s Director of the Cybercrime Directorate, Neal Jetton, said the cybercriminal syndicates caused financial and psychological harm to individuals and businesses. 

He added that “Operation Red Card highlights the importance of collaboration when combating transnational cybercrime. I encourage all victims of cybercrime to reach out to law enforcement for help.”

Fraud: Nigeria, Kenya and Cote d’Ivoire tops list

While the cybercriminal activities cut across 16 African countries, Nigeria, Kenya and Côte d’Ivoire stood out. 

Particularly in Nigeria, authorities dismantled a ring which recruited young individuals to carry out fraud using phishing, identity theft, social engineering and fake digital asset investment schemes. During the crackdown, over 1,000 fraudulent social media accounts were taken down, and residential property used by the ring leader for criminal activities was uncovered.

Another leading case marked a major success for Nigerian police authorities. A six-member syndicate group was arrested for infiltrating the internal platform of an unnamed telecoms operator through compromised staff login credentials. 

Read More: Nigeria Police arrests 6 for hacking telco and diverting N7.7bn in airtime and data.

Also, Kenyan authorities made 27 arrests of a fraud ring that used messaging apps and social media to lure victims into making fake investments in famous global organisations. 

“Scammers solicited small initial investments ‒ as low as USD 50 ‒ with claims of lucrative returns. Victims were shown fabricated account statements or dashboards, but withdrawal requests were systematically blocked,” it added. 

In Cote d’Ivoire, local police arrested 58 fraudsters involved in a mobile loan fraud where items such as 240 mobile phones, 25 laptops and over 300 SIM cards were seized. 

INTERPOL said the scammers targeted vulnerable populations using deceptive mobile applications and messaging services. They attract their victims using promises of quick loans as bait only to impose fees, enforce abusive debt-collection practices, and, in the process, harvest sensitive personal and financial information.

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