The operation, known as Operation Synergia III, was carried out between July 18, 2025, and January 31, 2026, with law enforcement agencies from 72 countries and territories participating.

According to INTERPOL, the coordinated effort led to the arrest of 94 suspects, while investigations are ongoing into an additional 110 individuals connected to the cybercrime network.

The agency noted that the success of the operation was driven by its ability to convert intelligence into actionable insights, strengthen cross-border collaboration, and provide targeted operational support to member countries in tackling evolving digital threats.

Preliminary investigations, it said, led to a series of coordinated actions by national authorities, including raids on key locations and the disruption of malicious cyber activities.  In total 212 electronic devices and servers were seized, it announced.

According to the organisation, participating countries and territories included: Nigeria, Angola, Argentina, Austria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Eswatini, France, Gambia, Georgia, Greece, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Guyana, and Honduras.

Others were: Iceland, India, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Macao (China), Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Moldova, Mongolia, Niger, North Macedonia, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Singapore, South Africa, South Sudan, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Tanzania, Togo, Türkiye, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Venezuela, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

INTERPOL’s Director of the Cybercrime Directorate, Neal Jetton, commenting on the development said: “Cybercrime in 2026 is more sophisticated and destructive than ever before, but Operation Synergia III stands as a powerful testament to what global cooperation can achieve.

“INTERPOL remains at the forefront of this fight, uniting law enforcement agencies and private sector experts to dismantle criminal networks, disrupt emerging threats and protect victims around the world.”

Although several investigations are still ongoing in participating countries, preliminary reports of key cases, it said, demonstrate the breadth of the criminal tactics employed, including fraudulent websites, romance scams and credit card fraud.

For instance, law enforcement in Macau, China identified more than 33,000 phishing and fraudulent websites, related to fake casinos and critical infrastructure, such as official bank, government and payment service sites.

“Victims are defrauded by topping up their accounts via the fraudulent sites or by having their personal information and credit card details stolen,” the INTERPOL noted.

Besides, police in Togo arrested 10 suspects operating a fraud ring from a residential area. Some specialised in technical crimes such as hacking social media accounts, while others carried out social engineering schemes including romance scams and sextortion.

“After gaining access to an account, the criminals contacted the victim’s online contacts, impersonating the account holder to build fake romantic relationships or deceive friends and family members. Their ultimate goal was to persuade these secondary victims to make money transfers.

“In Bangladesh, police arrested 40 suspects and seized 134 electronic devices related to a large range of cybercrime schemes, including loan and job scams, identity theft or credit card fraud,” it added.

During Operation Synergia III, INTERPOL said it worked closely with its partners, Group-IB, Trend Micro and S2W, to track illegal cyber activities and identify malicious servers.

The post INTERPOL Dismantles Global Cybercrime Network, Shuts Down 45,000 Malicious Servers appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

From ransomware and phishing to business email compromise, the threat landscape continues to evolve rapidly, posing serious risks to individuals, businesses, and governments alike.

In this exclusive interview with Techeconomy, Craig Jones, the immediate former director of Cybercrime at INTERPOL, shares deep insights into Africa’s cybersecurity challenges, lessons from global operations, and the progress being made in strengthening digital resilience across the continent.

Having led global cybercrime operations and coordinated capacity-building initiatives across Africa, Jones sheds light on the continent’s growing sophistication in fighting back, the collaboration gaps that remain, and what the world must learn from Africa’s experience. He is currently a director at CyPol.

TE: INTERPOL’s latest Africa Cyberthreat Assessment Report highlights over $3 billion in losses since 2019. Based on your experience leading global cybercrime operations, what do you consider the most significant enablers of the surge in cyberattacks across Africa? 

Craig Jones: I think the biggest enablers would be the technology and the criminal groups. We’ve seen a massive surge in criminal groups in Africa, where they’ve shifted from their old traditional model of sending out emails.

They’re becoming increasingly sophisticated in their skill set. They’re forming groups, forming businesses, and working transnationally. We’ve seen other citizens from other countries coming into Africa to work with those African groups as well.

TE: Nigeria is Africa’s largest digital economy and remains one of the hardest hit by cybercrime. What unique challenges make countries with big digital footprints vulnerable?

Craig Jones: I think you just said it, countries with a big digital footprint. Therefore, when you have an extensive digital footprint, you need to undertake considerable cybersecurity and protection measures within. In Nigeria, we’ve seen significant growth in the digital economy space.

Quite often, it’s just mobile phones. These systems are highly susceptible to cyberattacks from cybercriminals.

They launch and put malware on the phones. We see SIM swapping between people who share those phones. And that’s the backbone of the African region. It is about moving and transferring money.

TE: In your time at Interpol, did you notice any patterns of cyber criminal operations specifically targeting Nigeria’s financial systems and business sector?

Craig Jones: I don’t think it was uncommon for Nigeria’s financial businesses. It is not peculiar to Nigeria; it’s seen across South East Asia, Europe, Latin America, and South America.

However, as I mentioned earlier, the attack surface has expanded, resulting in an increased number of vulnerabilities. When you have more vulnerabilities, there are more opportunities for criminals to exploit. So, you then have to turn that around and look at your countries.

TE: How do you build out your digital capabilities? How do you ensure you have a competent workforce that can work in different departments to protect those businesses? The report warns of increasing threats like ransomware, phishing, and business email compromise. Which of these threats worries you the most in the African context?

Craig Jones: Look, crime worries me. Those are all types of crimes that are impacting businesses and communities. It’s the harm that it can cause in a healthcare setting, such as shutting down hospitals during a ransomware attack because they can’t access their systems, which can result in harm to people. You look at the impact when a business has to close down.

Quite often, people forget that the business will also serve other companies. Now, those businesses are all interconnected and reliant on each other; the impact is massive. We recently witnessed this in the United Kingdom with the shutdown of Jaguar-Rover.

TE: How are cyber criminal groups in Africa adapting their tactics compared to other regions you’ve worked in?

Craig Jones:  I think what we see in Africa now is that these groups are adapting and aligning with each other. Criminals in various countries are forming their own criminal networks.  And some of those criminals are actually travelling into Africa to commit their crimes as well.

TE: You previously coordinated cybercrime operations globally for Interpol. How well prepared are African law enforcement agencies to detect, investigate, and prosecute cybercrime?

Craig Jones: In 2019, I attended our working group meeting on cybercrime in Nairobi, and what struck me then was the enthusiasm, but the lack of investment. I went back to the UK and said, ‘Invest in Africa.’ In Rwanda, we had 40 heads of cybercrime, and 50 people were trained on how to prevent cybercrime. We gave them operational, actionable intelligence.

They went and disrupted the cybercriminals. That singular action we took has grown from 114 arrests to 1200 arrests in the most recent operations. We can see growth in terms of capabilities, and Nigeria is a leader in this space. I would like to commend Mr. Uche, who has been actively involved in efforts to tackle cybercrimes.

He started with a shipping container with three people. He now has a purpose-built three-storey building in Abuja.

TE: What role should capacity building and threat intelligence sharing play in improving Africa’s cyber resilience?

Craig Jones: I think they both go hand in hand in addressing the issue of cybercrime. We often discuss capacity building, which involves that type of training, but it’s also about having the technology to connect law enforcement. Interpol’s tools and channels are to be used between Interpol’s 196 member countries, and as I said earlier, that framework is really, really strong. The capability needs to be built out in collaboration with law enforcement and police officers on the ground, but they also require the tools to connect effectively. Once again, significant progress has been made in Africa over the last three to four years.

TE: How can organisations like the Shadow Server Foundation support governments and businesses in Africa to strengthen cybersecurity defences?

Craig Jones: Shadow Server Foundation are, fairly, unique in what they do. What they do is provide information directly to countries about their vulnerabilities, and they offer that information for free. However, Shadow Server is not free to run. So, it is funded, like many things, through donations, project funding, and similar means. However, they often collaborate with the National Cyber Security Centre, so by providing that information to them, the National CERT can help modify and reduce vulnerabilities in the systems and networks that Shadow Server has identified.

TE: The Global Cybersecurity Forum in Riyadh puts Africa’s cybersecurity in the spotlight. What would you like global leaders, businesses, and governments to take away from the discussion about the urgency of Africa’s cyber threat landscape?

Craig Jones: I think this urgency has been there for many years. We’re slowly addressing it, and this is a challenge we have in cybersecurity. It is an urgent matter. It is constantly evolving, and we see the impact it has on our communities. As part of this forum, we have the global thought leaders, but now they’re turning their ideas into tangible actions. It’s an investment.

The money needs to be invested in these countries to help them improve their cybersecurity. However, you also need to make it sustainable. So quite often, money is poured into countries, and then people disappear after two or three years. We need to build this.

We need to make it sustainable. We need to make it sustainable for many years to come. I think that’s a good place to start. I think so.

The post “Africa Must Invest, Not Just React, to Cyber Threats”, Former INTERPOL Cybercrime Chief, Craig Jones, Warns appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

Focused on several criminal activities which target both organisations and individuals in the region, the action resulted in the arrest of 1,209 suspected cybercriminals.

Kaspersky has contributed to the operation, having shared its threat intelligence data and indicators of compromise (IoCs) on the threats investigated.

Running from June to August 2025, Serengeti 2.0 brought together investigators from 18 African countries and the United Kingdom to tackle high-impact cybercrimes including ransomware, online scams and business email compromise (BEC).

The crackdown recovered USD$ 97.4 million and dismantled 11,432 malicious infrastructures which were involved in cybercrimes targeting nearly 88,000 victims.

As a regular contributor to INTERPOL-led operations, Kaspersky empowered the law enforcement agency with its threat intelligence data on the cyber syndicates investigated.

The company has shared its data on regional threats, including phishing websites threatening users in Africa, botnet and malicious DDoS infrastructure, as well as ransomware attack statistics.

For the period from January-May 2025, Kaspersky products detected about 10,000 unique ransomware samples across the region.

Additionally, at the request of INTERPOL, Kaspersky’s Threat Research expertise center researched a cryptocurrency investment scheme, which tricked users into investing their money into a fake business, and identified new network IoCs which enabled law enforcers to investigate the scammers further.

The investment fraud scheme was cracked down by Zambian authorities, who identified 65,000 victims falling prey to the fraudulent campaign, losing an estimated USD 300 million.

As many as 15 individuals were arrested by the Zambian authorities as a result of the probe, with investigations still ongoing to track down overseas collaborators.

The first edition of operation Serengeti was held from September-October 2024 and cracked down on cybercrimes such as ransomware operations, digital extortion and online scams.

These syndicates activities caused nearly USD 193 million in damages and, as a result of an effort uniting nearly 20 participating countries, more than 1,000 suspected cybercriminals were then arrested.

Valdecy Urquiza, secretary general of INTERPOL, said:

“Each INTERPOL-coordinated operation builds on the last, deepening cooperation, increasing information sharing and developing investigative skills across member countries. With more contributions and shared expertise, the results keep growing in scale and impact. This global network is stronger than ever, delivering real outcomes and safeguarding victims.”

“The African continent’s rapid digitalisation can be a double-edge sword: whilst providing space for new development opportunities on the one hand, it is bringing emerging risks on the other,” noted Yuliya Shlychkova, Vice-President of Government Affairs & Public Policy at Kaspersky.

“It is extremely important to drive effective private-public partnership which can enhance existing cooperation arrangements and create new ones in the quest of building a healthy cyberspace in the region.

The successful example of INTERPOL-coordinated operations shows how effective permanent dialogue and data exchange can be between private players and law enforcement in curbing cybercrime rates. By scaling out such initiatives, we can make sure that the digital world is a space for opportunity and not for threats.”

As evidenced in INTERPOL’s latest Africa Cyberthreat Assessment Report 2025, which comprises Kaspersky’s threat data, while Africa has made significant progress in cybersecurity recently, cybercrime is still accelerating across the continent.

The trend among other things is facilitated by the proliferation of AI-driven crimes and an increase in the use of turnkey attack infrastructure.

With limited cross-border cooperation capacities recognised by nearly 90% of African agencies, the significance of streamlined multistakeholder efforts to respond to evolving cyber risks is immense.

Thanks to INTERPOL-coordinated actions, the African region has recently witnessed a number of fruitful missions that resulted in the demolition of malicious infrastructure and the apprehension of responsible attackers.

In addition to the two editions of operation Serengeti, Kaspersky has previously partaken in the Africa Cyber Surge, Africa Cyber Surge II, and Red Card operations, all of which sought to build a safer cyber environment in the African region.

Techeconomy gathered that Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Côte D’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Seychelles, Tanzania, United Kingdom, Zambia and Zimbabwe, participated in the operations.

The post The Untold Story: How Investigators from 18 African Countries and the UK Dismantled 1,200 Syndicates appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

According to the INTERPOL, all paperwork has been completed.

It added that it is currently engaging with the Kenyan government by presenting the relevant treaties, Memorandum of Understanding and other documents to convince the Kenyan government to release and send Nadeem Anjarwalla back to Nigeria to face his trial.

Garba Umar, the vice-president of INTERPOL Africa, disclosed this on Tuesday while featuring on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme.

Anjarwalla, who was being held alongside his colleague, Tigran Gambaryan, for money laundering and tax evasion, fled the custody of the National Security Adviser on March 22 and escaped to Kenya.

The Federal Government said the activities of Binance, a cryptocurrency platform, were hurting the Nigerian currency, naira, leading to its free fall against the US dollar and other currencies.

The 38-year-old Briton-Kenyan was said to have escaped when security men guarding him led him to a nearby mosque for prayers in the spirit of the Ramadan fast.

He was, however, said to have been arrested last week in Kenya.

The post Binance: INTERPOL Completes ‘Paperwork’ for Nadeem Anjarwalla Extradition appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

Kaspersky said the company has supported International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL) with threat intelligence data in its Africa Cyber Surge II operation, which enabled investigators to identify compromised infrastructure and apprehend threat actors suspected of cybercrimes across the African region.

The operation resulted in the arrest of 14 perpetrators and the identification of network infrastructure, linked to financial losses of more than $40 million.

The Africa Cyber Surge operation is a continuous multi-stakeholder effort aimed at fighting cybercrime and protecting communities in the region.

The first part of the Africa Cyber Surge operation, in which Kaspersky has also taken part, was carried out from July to November 2022, and resulted in a series of operational and investigative activities against the threat actors behind the cybercrimes in the African region.

The Africa Cyber Surge II operation was launched in April 2023 and lasted for four months, spanning across 25 African countries. The action was undertaken by INTERPOL’s Cybercrime Directorate, under the auspices of the INTERPOL Africa Cybercrime Operations desk, and INTERPOL’s Support Programme for the African Union (ISPA) in relation to AFRIPOL.

The effort was also supported by the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, the German Federal Foreign Office, and the Council of Europe.

Together with INTERPOL’s other private sector partners, Kaspersky has shared with the international agency indicators of compromise (IoCs), including malicious command and control servers, phishing links and domains, and scam IPs. As a result, INTERPOL streamlined cooperation between African law enforcement agencies to investigate and disrupt cybercriminals suspected of cyber extortion, phishing, business email compromise and online scams.

“The Africa Cyber Surge II operation has led to the strengthening of cybercrime departments in member countries as well as the solidification of partnerships with crucial stakeholders, such as computer emergency response teams and Internet Service Providers. This will further contribute to reducing the global impact of cybercrime and protecting communities in the region,” said Jürgen Stock, INTERPOL Secretary General.

“In its mission to build a safer digital world, Kaspersky has been giving due credit to the importance of multilateral cooperation, involving the private sector, international law enforcement and national authorities,” commented Yuliya Shlychkova, Public Affairs Director at Kaspersky. “Only by harnessing the power of effective private-public partnership, can we give an impetus to the further strengthening of the cybersecurity industry in the African region to ensure that African countries can realise their outstanding potential without hindrance and regard for cybercrimes.”

“As digital systems, Information Communication Technologies and Artificial Intelligence grow in prominence, it is urgent that public and private actors work hand in hand to prevent these technologies from being exploited by cybercriminals. Coordinated operations such as Cyber Surge are necessary to disrupt criminal networks and build individual, organisational and society-wide levels of protection,” said AFRIPOL’s Acting Executive Director, Ambassador Jalel Chelba.

The data sharing exchange between Kaspersky and INTERPOL is part of a five-year cooperation agreement, signed by both parties in 2019, which also provides for delivering human resources support and training to the law enforcement agency.

Since the document was signed, Kaspersky and INTERPOL have maintained a positive momentum of joint operations aimed at combating cybercrime and awareness-raising projects to help people become more aware of modern-day cyber risks.

[Feature Image Credit]

The post Africa: How INTERPOL Busted $40 million Cybercrime Syndicates appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.

This evidence provided the grounds for a series of operational and investigative activities against the threat actors behind the cybercrimes and their malicious infrastructure.

The threat intelligence data was shared with INTERPOL as part of the agency’s long-standing Gateway project, which encourages the partnership between law enforcement and private industry players to accumulate threat data from multiple sources enabling police authorities to prevent attacks.

Based on the information shared by Kaspersky together with the rest of Gateway project partners, 28 cyber activity reports were drafted.

They highlighted a range of threats targeting the African continent and outlined recommended actions to be taken by the national authorities, paving the way for the ACSO.

The ACSO was initiated by INTERPOL’s Cybercrime Directorate and INTERPOL Support Program for the African Union (ISPA) and was carried out in collaboration with the AFRIPOL police agency and the Africa member countries.

The operation was coupled with a cyber investigation training event which was held from July 18 to August 5, 2022 in Rwanda.

Kaspersky supported INTERPOL’s operation by helping the agency to identify the malicious infrastructure hosted within African countries with the view of the future takedown actions by the responsible bodies.

The information shared by the company was gathered with the help of Kaspersky’s Threat Research, Security Services, and Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT) analysts. It included:

• IoCs on phishing, malware and botnet campaigns
• Ransomware C&C servers’ IP addresses
• IP addresses linked to the malicious infrastructure within the African continent
• IP addresses, from which phishing and spam emails were sent out
• List of scam and phishing websites

The ASCO course identified unsophisticated cybercriminals and infrastructure compromised as part of their criminal activities.

As a result, cyberattack enablers, including malware hosting or distribution servers, phishing websites and compromised IP addresses were taken down and cleaned.

“The Africa Cyber Surge Operation, launched in July 2022, has brought together law enforcement officials from 27 countries, working together for almost 4-months on actionable intelligence provided by INTERPOL private partners. This intelligence focused on opportunities to prevent, detect, investigate and disrupt cybercrime through coordinated LE activities utilising INTERPOL platforms, tools, and channels. This operation focused both on cyber criminals and compromised network infrastructure in Africa, allowing member countries to identify more than 1,000 malicious IP addresses, Dark Web Markets, and individual threat actors, enhancing cooperation between INTERPOL, AFRIPOL and the member countries, and contributing to connecting policing for a safer world,” said Craig Jones, Director Cybercrime Directorate.

“Kaspersky has always seen international cooperation as a key element of the effective fight against borderless cybercrime and has been working closely with its partners, including INTERPOL, to disrupt malicious activities of threat actors worldwide. We are happy to be a part of INTERPOL’s ACSO and, together with other participants, help African countries tackle the cybercrime threat. The successful operation boosts the role of collaborative efforts in combating cyber offences and achieving greater cybersecurity,” commented Genie Gan, the head of Public Affairs and Government Relations for Asia Pacific & Middle East, Turkey and Africa.

In 2019, Kaspersky and INTERPOL signed a five-year cooperation agreement, under which the company committed to provide human resources support, training, and threat intelligence data on the latest cybercriminal activities to the law enforcement agency.

Since the document was signed, the two parties have been further advancing the cooperation by jointly preventing cybercrime and raising awareness on acute cyberthreats through collaboration in the cybersecurity industry.

The post The Joint Effort to Combat Cybercrime in Africa appeared first on Tech | Business | Economy.