An international law enforcement operation led by Interpol has led to the arrest of 14 suspected cybercriminals in an operation codenamed 'Africa Cyber Surge II,' launched in April 2023.
The four-month operation spanned 25 African countries and disrupted over 20,000 cybercrime networks engaged in extortion, phishing, BEC, and online scams, responsible for financial losses of over $40,000,000.
Along with the arrests, the authorities have also taken down hundreds of malicious IP addresses that hosted malware and helped distribute dangerous software.
Specifically, Interpol's and its partners' investigation, whose findings served as the guidance for 'Africa Cyber Surge II' include the following:
3,786 malicious command and control servers
14,134 victim IPs linked to data stealer cases
1,415 phishing links and domains
939 scam IPs
Over 400 other malicious URLs, IPs, and botnets
Group-IB makes key contribution to INTERPOL-led Africa Cyber Surge II operation, leading to arrests of 14 suspects
https://www.group-ib.com/media-center/press-releases/africa-cyber-surge-ii/
Based on the above, the operation produced the following highlights:
Cameroon: 3 suspects arrested for $850,000 online art scam.
Nigeria: 1 individual arrested for defrauding a Gambian victim.
Mauritius: 2 money mules arrested linked to messaging platform scams.
Gambia: 185 malicious IPs taken down through proactive measures and partnerships.
Cameroon: 2 darknet sites shut down by authorities.
Kenya: 615 malware hosters taken down by authorities.
The first 'Africa Cyber Surge' operation took place in November 2022
resulted in the arrest of 11 individuals, the takedown of a darknet market that sold hacking tools, and the disruption of 200,000 infrastructure points that aided in the dissemination of malware, phishing, spam, scams, and supported botnet activity.