574 arrested, Sh387 million recovered in Africa-wide cybercrime crackdown

Benin: During Operation Sentinel, 106 arrests were made/SCREENGRAB

Law enforcement agencies across Africa have arrested 574 suspects and recovered about USD 3 million (Sh387 million) following a coordinated cybercrime crackdown spanning 19 countries, INTERPOL has announced.

The month-long operation, dubbed Operation Sentinel, was conducted between October 27 and November 27 and targeted three of the continent’s most prevalent cybercrime threats: business email compromise (BEC), digital extortion and ransomware.

These crimes were identified as rapidly growing risks in INTERPOL’s 2025 Africa Cyber Threat Assessment Report.

According to INTERPOL, the cases investigated during the operation were linked to estimated financial losses exceeding USD 21 million (Sh2.7 billion), underscoring the significant economic impact of cybercrime on African businesses, institutions and individuals.

As part of the crackdown, authorities took down more than 6,000 malicious online links and successfully decrypted six distinct ransomware variants used by criminal networks.

Neal Jetton, INTERPOL’s Director of Cybercrime, said the results reflected increasing cooperation among African law enforcement agencies and international partners in tackling sophisticated digital threats.

He warned that cyberattacks across the continent were becoming more frequent and complex, particularly targeting critical sectors such as finance and energy.

“The outcomes from Operation Sentinel reflect the commitment of African law enforcement agencies, working in close coordination with international partners,” Jetton said.

“Their actions have successfully protected livelihoods, secured sensitive personal data and preserved critical infrastructure.”

Several countries recorded notable successes during the operation. In Benin, authorities dismantled 43 malicious domains and shut down 4,318 social media accounts linked to extortion schemes and online scams, resulting in 106 arrests.

Investigators said the suspects were involved in coordinated cyber fraud campaigns targeting victims across multiple countries.

In Cameroon, law enforcement acted swiftly after two victims reported being defrauded through an online vehicle sales platform.

Investigations traced the phishing campaign to a compromised server, prompting authorities to issue an emergency bank freeze within hours, preventing further financial losses.

Senegalese authorities foiled a high-value business email compromise scheme targeting a major petroleum company.

Fraudsters had infiltrated internal email systems and impersonated senior executives to authorise a fraudulent wire transfer of USD 7.9 million (Sh903 million).

The transfer was halted in time after destination accounts were urgently frozen, preventing the funds from being withdrawn.

Ghanaian authorities dismantled a major cyber-fraud network that mimicked well-known fast-food brands to collect online payments/SCREENGRAB

In Ghana, a financial institution was struck by a ransomware attack that encrypted approximately 100 terabytes of data and siphoned about USD 120,000 (Sh15.4 million), disrupting critical services.

Ghanaian investigators conducted advanced malware analysis to identify the ransomware strain and develop a decryption tool, enabling the recovery of nearly 30 terabytes of data. Multiple suspects have since been arrested.

INTERPOL said Operation Sentinel was enabled through close collaboration with private sector partners, including Team Cymru, The Shadowserver Foundation, Trend Micro, TRM Labs and Uppsala Security.

These partnerships provided vital technical support in tracing IP addresses used at various stages of ransomware attacks and sextortion schemes, as well as assisting authorities in freezing illicit financial assets.

The operation was carried out under the African Joint Operation against Cybercrime (AFJOC) framework, with funding from the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the Global Action on Cybercrime Enhanced (GLACY-e) project, a joint initiative of the European Union and the Council of Europe.

Participating countries included Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Congo, Djibouti, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, South Sudan, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.