More than 500 suspects have been arrested as part of an Interpol-coordinated operation known as Operation Sentinel, with authorities recovering $3 million linked to business email compromise (BEC), extortion, and ransomware crimes.
Conducted between October 27 and November 27, the month-long initiative involved law enforcement agencies from 19 countries and led to the takedown of more than 6,000 malicious links and the decryption of six ransomware variants.
Interpol said the cases investigated during the operation are connected to more than $21 million in global financial losses. Authorities reported that a $7.9 million fraudulent wire transfer targeting a petroleum company in Senegal was prevented. Also, multiple arrests were made in Ghana following a ransomware attack that encrypted 100 terabytes of data at a financial institution. Investigators in Ghana were able to analyze the malware, develop a decryption tool, and recover 30 terabytes of compromised data.
Cross-border cooperation between Ghana and Nigeria also dismantled a scam impersonating well-known fast-food brands that defrauded more than 200 victims of over $400,000. In Benin, police made over 100 arrests while removing dozens of malicious domains and thousands of scam-linked social media accounts. Authorities in Cameroon neutralized an online vehicle sales scam and froze compromised bank accounts.
Operation Sentinel follows a series of large-scale cybercrime crackdowns coordinated by Interpol in Africa. In August, Operation Serengeti 2.0 led to 1,209 arrests and the recovery of $97.4 million in illicit funds, while a March initiative dubbed Operation Red Card resulted n 306 arrests and the disruption of scams affecting more than 5,000 victims. In April 2023, 14 suspected cybercriminals across 25 African countries were arrested as part of the Africa Cyber Surge II operation, with authorities identifying 20,674 suspicious cyber networks linked to more than $40 million in financial losses.
