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Police in 20 African countries and the US worked together to arrest cybercrime suspects and recovered more than $105 million within a period of 2 months (from June 29 to August 31, 2026).
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Losses caused by these networks amounted to $385 million, with 65,929 victims affected. Uganda alone produced 365 arrests.
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Private security firms shared data before the sweep began, and several cases remain open.
INTERPOL announced Thursday that police across 21 countries arrested 1,462 people in a cybercrime sweep. Officers also disrupted 10,909 malicious networks and recovered more than $105 million.
The effort, called Operation Serengeti III, ran from June 29 to August 31, 2026. INTERPOL calls it one of the largest cybercrime operations in Africa. Twenty of the countries are African, and the United States is the 21st.
Police Raids Cybercrime Networks in Africa
This was a raid on fraudsters, extortioners and blackmailers using computers for their activities such as extortion, ransomware, and email fraud. There were 65,929 victims. They also tied the activity to losses above $385 million. In other words, the recovered money equals about 27 percent of that figure.
Preparation mattered. Before the sweep began, INTERPOL gave investigators in 20 African countries and the United States tips on suspicious websites, internet addresses, and servers that criminals use to control hacked computers. As a result, officers had a head start once the work began.
The Biggest Cases
Uganda produced the largest single haul. There, authorities broke up two fraud rings and arrested 365 foreign nationals. That is about one in four of all arrests. The suspects were involved in investment schemes and pension fraud targeting victims in Asia.
They operated an ever-changing call center with scripted calls, fake investment sites, and phony websites. In short, the goal was to trick pensioners into investing in opportunities that did not exist.
Angola took a different path. Police shut down two illegal cryptocurrency mining centers and arrested nine suspects. They also seized more than 2,000 mining devices and six illegal power transformation stations. The electrical equipment alone was worth over $1 million.
Nigeria saw two notable arrests. First, police caught a suspect behind a large phishing and business email scam. The scheme harvested software login details and collected about 2.1 million email addresses. Officers also recovered a luxury car they believe criminals bought with stolen money.
Second, a suspect allegedly ran an investment scam promoted through messaging apps. Investigators traced more than $2.4 million in suspected criminal funds. Much of it moved through cryptocurrency.
Meanwhile, smaller cases added to the total. Tanzania dismantled a scheme built around a malicious mobile loan app. Gabon disrupted a vehicle import scam that spread on social media. In the Republic of Congo, police arrested 30 suspects.
How Operation Serengeti III compares with earlier rounds
This is the third round of Operation Serengeti. The first round, Operation Serengeti 1, took place in 2024, between September 2 and October 31 in 19 different countries. That operation resulted in 1,006 arrests. The second round happened in 2025 and affected 18 countries with 1,209 arrests.
In a separate African cybercrime crackdown, INTERPOL previously reported 574 arrests linked to fraud and dark web crimes, highlighting its continued efforts to disrupt criminal networks across the region.
Now the new numbers show mixed progress. Arrests rose about 21 percent from 2025, and recoveries grew to more than $105 million. However, the network count dipped slightly. Reports on the 2025 round also cited 88,000 victims, compared with 65,929 now. INTERPOL has not explained those gaps. Overall, the three rounds add up to 3,677 arrests.
Private Companies Joined in
INTERPOL credits private partners for key help. They included Group-IB, Kaspersky, Fortinet, TrendAI, Team Cymru, Uppsala Security, Cybercrime Atlas, Meta, the Global Anti-Scam Alliance, and Zimbabwe’s telecom regulator. In addition, the European Union and the Council of Europe co-funded the work through a project called GLACY-e.
For example, Group-IB said it supplied data on phishing kits, which are ready-made fake login pages, and botnets, which are networks of hacked devices. Team Cymru explained its approach this way: “Criminals cannot operate without infrastructure.” Its point is simple. In practice, tracking the tools behind scams can lead police to the people running them.
Why Cyberthreat Keeps Growing
The timing matters. In August, INTERPOL’s African Cyberthreat Assessment Report revealed that artificial intelligence played a role in 55 percent of reported cybercrimes across Africa. The numbers are pretty alarming: financial losses shot up from $192 million to $484 million since 2024. Scammers have gotten better, too. Now they use AI to craft believable emails and create fake identities that fool people.
INTERPOL’s cybercrime director, Neal Jetton, didn’t mince words when he called cybercrime “increasingly borderless.” Because the networks cross borders, he argued, international teamwork remains one of the best ways to break them up and recover stolen assets.
What’s Next?
The work is not over. Investigations are still ongoing. Officials are still looking for suspects, tracking the money, and combing through digital evidence seized during the operation. As a result, more arrests could follow. Still, INTERPOL did not say how much of the $105 million will go back to victims.
