375/68 Wednesday, October 1, 2025
Interpol announced on Friday that Operation Contender 3.0, a two-week international operation conducted across 14 African countries, resulted in the arrest of 260 cybercrime suspects. The dismantled networks were involved in romance scams and sextortion schemes, extorting money through intimate images. The total estimated damage was around USD 2.8 million, with more than 1,500 victims. Authorities seized evidence including data storage devices, SIM cards, forged documents, and dismantled over 80 illegal cyber infrastructures across the region.
According to Interpol, in Ghana, authorities arrested 68 suspects, seized 835 electronic devices, and identified 108 victims who collectively lost over USD 450,000. Investigators managed to halt transactions and recover about USD 70,000. In Senegal, police arrested 22 suspects who defrauded more than 120 victims through social media and dating platforms, causing losses of about USD 34,000. In Côte d’Ivoire, 24 suspects were arrested for targeting over 800 victims, tricking them into sharing intimate images later used for blackmail. In Angola, 8 suspects were arrested for using social media to scam 28 victims domestically and abroad.
Other participating countries included Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, and Zambia, with investigative support from cybersecurity firms such as Group-IB and Trend Micro. Interpol officials emphasized that the growth of online platforms is providing more opportunities for criminal networks to exploit users globally, causing not only financial losses but also serious psychological harm. They reaffirmed Interpol’s commitment to working with member states and private sector partners to disrupt and dismantle these cybercrime groups.
The operation is also part of the larger “Operation Serengeti 2.0” crackdown in Africa, which has already led to over 1,200 arrests and nearly USD 485 million in damages from close to 88,000 victims across the region.
Source https://cyberscoop.com/interpol-operation-contender-3-africa/
