Attackers behind ransomware, business email compromise, digital extortion and online scams were targeted.
A two-month initiative aimed at combating cybercrime across Africa has seen the dismantling of 134,089 malicious infrastructures, and the arrest of 1,006 suspects.
Named ‘Operation Serengeti’, the INTERPOL and AFRIPOL operation identified more than 35,000 victims, and targeted criminals behind ransomware, business email compromise, digital extortion and online scams.
Valdecy Urquiza, Secretary General of INTERPOL, said: “From multi-level marketing scams to credit card fraud on an industrial scale, the increasing volume and sophistication of cybercrime attacks is of serious concern.
“Operation Serengeti shows what we can achieve by working together, and these arrests alone will save countless potential future victims from real personal and financial pain. We know that this is just the tip of the iceberg, which is why we will continue targeting these criminal groups worldwide.”
Written by
Dan Raywood is a B2B journalist with 25 years of experience, including covering cybersecurity for the past 17 years. He has extensively covered topics from Advanced Persistent Threats and nation-state hackers to major data breaches and regulatory changes.
He has spoken at events including 44CON, Infosecurity Europe, RANT Forum, BSides Scotland, Steelcon and the National Cyber Security Show, and served as editor of SC Media UK, Infosecurity Magazine and IT Security Guru. He was also an analyst with 451 Research and a product marketing lead at Tenable.
