Interpol crackdown on Africa-wide cyber scammers

Some 260 suspected cyber scammers have been arrested in a sting operation carried out across 14 African countries, reports BBC News. The operation, co-ordinated by Interpol and funded by the UK, targeted criminal networks using social media and digital platforms to extract money from victims in romance scams, and in so-called ‘sextortion’, in which victims are blackmailed using explicit imagery. More than 1 400 victims across Ghana, Kenya, Angola and elsewhere were identified. Interpol estimates the victims lost a combined total of almost $2.8m. People of various different ages fell foul of the scammers, said Interpol's director of cybercrime Neal Jetton, but ‘typically a lot of these scams do affect older people’. During the crackdown which was carried out between July and August, police identified IP addresses, digital infrastructure, domains and social media profiles linked to members of the scam syndicates. These leads and the subsequent arrests also resulted in the seizure of USB drives, sim cards and forged documents, as well as the taking-down of 81 cyber-crime groups across Africa, Interpol said. ‘Cyber-crime units across Africa are reporting a sharp rise in digital-enabled crimes such as sextortion and romance scams,’ said Cyril Gout, the acting executive director of police services at Interpol.

About 68 suspects were arrested in Ghana, where authorities seized 835 devices and identified 108 victims during the operation. Investigators there recovered $70 000 from the estimated $450 000 in financial losses. In Senegal, police arrested 22 suspects and uncovered a network that impersonated celebrities and used emotional manipulation on social media and dating platforms to defraud 120 victims of approximately $34 000, according to BBC News. A total of 65 devices, forged identification documents and money transfer records were seized during the operation there. And in Ivory Coast, police arrested 24 suspects, seized 29 devices and identified 809 victims. Eight suspects were arrested in Angola where authorities identified 28 domestic and international victims, primarily targeted via social media. Other countries involved in the operation under the African Joint Operation against Cyber-crime project include Benin, Burkina Faso, The Gambia, Guinea, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia.