INTERPOL has coordinated a sweeping multinational crackdown on transnational digital crime syndicates, arresting 1,462 suspects and dismantling 10,909 malicious digital networks across 21 countries. Carried out between June 29 and August 31, 2026, the coordinated initiative known as Operation Serengeti III recovered more than $105 million in illicit assets. Investigators identified 65,929 individuals targeted by digital fraud schemes, with aggregate financial damages tied to the criminal rings exceeding $385 million. The enforcement actions dismantled illicit technical architectures, including phishing tools, malicious email servers, and cross-border laundering channels that sustained business email compromises and investment frauds globally.
Cross-Border Raids Disrupt Organised Syndicates Across Africa
The international effort brought together law enforcement agencies across Africa alongside United States authorities, targeting the infrastructure supporting online deception across several territories. In Uganda, police raided two transnational rings involved in sophisticated online investment and pension fraud schemes targeting victims across Asia, which resulted in the detention of 365 foreign nationals. Enforcement teams in the Republic of Congo apprehended 30 suspects tied to local digital fraud groups. Meanwhile, private cybersecurity intelligence partners, including Group-IB and Team Cymru, assisted the multi-jurisdictional actions by tracing phishing kits, malicious botnets, and supporting technical hubs. Officials stressed that taking down digital infrastructure mid-operation prevents prolonged damage compared to pursuing financial traces after schemes conclude.
Targeted Actions in Nigeria and Angola Curb Financial Schemes
Nigerian authorities carried out several major operations that dismantled extensive business email compromise operations and phishing platforms. One suspect was detained for collecting proprietary login credentials and amassing a database containing approximately 2.1 million email addresses. Another target was apprehended for operating a messaging-app-based investment fraud that generated more than $2.4 million in suspected proceeds, which had been transferred through cryptocurrency channels to obscure the movement of money across traditional banking boundaries. In Angola, enforcement expanded to digital hardware infrastructure, where officials dismantled two unauthorized cryptocurrency mining centres, arrested nine individuals, and confiscated 2,000 operational units alongside six illicit electrical transformation stations valued at over $1 million.
Sustained Global Campaign Strengthens International Enforcement Standards
The concluding third phase builds upon the operational frameworks established during two previous iterations of Operation Serengeti, which yielded over 2,000 combined arrests across 2024 and 2025. INTERPOL Cybercrime Director Neal Jetton observed that criminal syndicates increasingly exploit cross-border tools to harm communities at an unprecedented scale, making sustained technical cooperation and intelligence sharing essential. By targeting technical hardware, host servers, and illicit financial channels concurrently, the international coalition disrupted operations that typically exploit differences between domestic legal jurisdictions. All detained suspects face judicial proceedings and charging determinations within the respective legal systems of the countries where they were apprehended.
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