Operation Red Card involves private sector and seven participating nations.
Arrests have been made in more than 300 African countries with 1842 devices seized in an operation targeting cyber-attacks and cyber-enabled scams.
As part of ‘Operation Red Card’, which took place between November 2024 and February 2025, more than 5,000 victims were identified as being involved with mobile banking, investment and messaging app scams, which operated across national borders.
Neal Jetton, INTERPOL’s director of the cybercrime directorate, said: “The success of Operation Red Card demonstrates the power of international cooperation in combating cybercrime, which knows no borders and can have devastating effects on individuals and communities.
“The recovery of significant assets and devices, as well as the arrest of key suspects, sends a strong message to cybercriminals that their activities will not go unpunished.”
The seven participating countries were Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Togo and Zambia.
Shared Intelligence
Ahead of the operation, countries exchanged criminal intelligence on key targets. This intelligence was enriched by INTERPOL with insights into criminal modus operandi using data from its private sector partners—Group-IB, Kaspersky and Trend Micro.
Yuliya Shlychkova, vice president, global public affairs at Kaspersky, said: “Kaspersky is proud to be part of this collaborative effort led by INTERPOL. The evolving threat landscape in Africa requires a multi-stakeholder dialogue and joint efforts of public and private organisations to address the cybersecurity challenges the region faces today.
“The Red Card operation is a notable example of such cooperation, showcasing how the expertise of private companies coupled with extensive investigative capacities of law enforcers can foster a more cyber-resilient environment.”
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.
