Multi-nation operation nabs cybercriminals behind $40M loss

Updated on: 18 August 2023

Jurgita Lapienytė
Chief Editor

African cyber operation in 25 countries — By Cybernews

Investigators have arrested 14 suspects and identified over 20,000 suspicious networks linked to losses of over $40 million.

Interpol and Afripol have concluded a four-months long operation across 25 African countries in an effort to disrupt cyber extortion, phishing, business email compromise, and other online scams that have recently surged in the region.

Officials estimate that the arrested suspects and the disrupted networks were responsible for losses amounting to approximately $40 million.

For example, in Cameroon, three suspected cybercriminals were arrested in relation to a fraudulent sale of art worth $850,000. Cameroonian authorities also took down two darknet sites.

The police relied on information from their private partners, prominent cybersecurity companies like Group-IB and Trend Micro, among others. They shared reports with law enforcement containing the following information:

▪ 3,786 malicious command and control servers

▪ 14,134 victim IPs linked to data stealer cases

▪ 1,415 phishing links and domains

▪ 939 scam IPs

▪ More than 400 other malicious URLs, IPs and botnets.