Interpol-coordinated Operation Sentinel has successfully dismantled several prolific African cybercrime syndicates, marking a significant outcome of the multi-country law enforcement initiative targeting transnational cyber threats.

Spanning 19 countries, the month-long enforcement effort resulted in 574 suspects being arrested and roughly $3 million seized. Investigators also took down more than 6,000 malicious links and decrypted six distinct ransomware strains. Officials later confirmed the activities were connected to about $21 million in financial damage stemming from BEC fraud, digital extortion, and ransomware attacks.

Interpol reported that attackers carried out an advanced BEC operation targeting a major Senegalese petroleum firm, gaining access to corporate email systems and posing as company executives to authorize a $7.9 million wire transfer to accounts under their control. 

Pan-African Cybercrime 

Interpol said the threat activity spanned multiple tactics and regions. In one Ghana-based incident, a ransomware attack crippled a financial institution by locking its data, resulting in service disruption and losses totaling $120,000. Separately, Ghanaian law enforcement identified a cross-border fraud network in Ghana and Nigeria that leveraged fake fast-food brand sites to extract over $400,000 from more than 200 victims, delivering no orders.

Authorities said two victims in Cameroon fell prey to a phishing operation masquerading as an online vehicle sales platform. In a related enforcement effort in Benin, police took down 4,318 malicious social media accounts and 43 domains tied to extortion activities, leading to 106 arrests.

“The scale and sophistication of cyberattacks across Africa are accelerating, especially against critical sectors like finance and energy," Neal Jetton, Interpol's director of cybercrime, said in a statement about the arrests.

According to Interpol’s 2025 Africa Cyberthreat Assessment Report (https://www.interpol.int/News-and-Events/News/2025/New-INTERPOL-report-warns-of-sharp-rise-in-cybercrime-in-Africa), cybercrime has surged sharply across Africa, with two-thirds of countries in the region indicating that it now represents a “medium-to-high” share of total crime.

“Cybersecurity is not merely a technical issue; it has become a fundamental pillar of stability, peace, and sustainable development in Africa," said Ambassador Jalel Chelba, acting executive director of Afripol. "It directly concerns the digital sovereignty of states, the resilience of our institutions, citizen trust and the proper functioning of our economies."