Law enforcement authorities in Africa have arrested over 1,200 suspects as part of ‘Operation Serengeti 2.0,’ an INTERPOL-led international crackdown targeting cross-border cybercriminal gangs.
Between June and August 2025, law enforcement agents seized $97.4 million and dismantled 11,432 malicious infrastructures linked to attacks that targeted 87,858 victims worldwide.
“In a sweeping INTERPOL-coordinated operation, authorities across Africa have arrested 1,209 cybercriminals targeting nearly 88,000 victims,” Interpol said on Friday.
“Operation Serengeti 2.0 (June to August 2025) brought together investigators from 18 African countries and the United Kingdom to tackle high-harm and high-impact cybercrimes including ransomware, online scams and business email compromise (BEC).”
This operation was conducted under the framework of the African Joint Operation against Cybercrime, funded by the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office.
The joint action also utilized data from private sector partners, including Cybercrime Atlas, Fortinet, Group-IB, Kaspersky, The Shadowserver Foundation, Team Cymru, Trend Micro, TRM Labs, and Uppsala Security.
This is the latest such operation targeting cybercrime rings across Africa in recent years, with many other multi-million-dollar operations being dismantled or disrupted after previous joint actions.
More recently, 306 suspected cybercriminals were arrested between November 2024 and February 2025 as part of ‘Operation Red Card,’ who were linked to attacks that impacted over 5,000 victims worldwide.
Between September and October 2024, another law enforcement action dubbed ‘Operation Serengeti’ that Interpol also coordinated, led to the arrest of 1,006 suspects believed to be part of cybercrime gangs behind ransomware, digital extortion, business email compromise (BEC), and online scams.
As part of ‘Operation Africa Cyber Surge II,’ which launched in April 2023, police agents from 25 African countries apprehended 14 suspects linked to extortion, phishing, BEC, and online scams, responsible for losses of more than $40 million.
”Each INTERPOL-coordinated operation builds on the last, deepening cooperation, increasing information sharing and developing investigative skills across member countries,” said Valdecy Urquiza, Secretary General of Interpol on Friday.
“With more contributions and shared expertise, the results keep growing in scale and impact. This global network is stronger than ever, delivering real outcomes and safeguarding victims.”
46% of environments had passwords cracked, nearly doubling from 25% last year.
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