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Law enforcement agencies in African countries have announced Operation Serengeti, which saw the arrest of more than 1,000 people suspected of involvement in cybercriminal activities. The total amount of financial damage caused by them is estimated at US$193 million.
The operation was coordinated by Interpol and Afripol and was carried out between September 2 and October 31, 2024. Serengeti is reported to have primarily “targeted criminals involved in ransomware, BEC attacks, digital extortion, and online fraud.”
In total, authorities in 19 African countries arrested 1,006 suspects and destroyed 134,089 malicious infrastructures and networks based on intelligence provided by security partners such as Cybercrime Atlas, Fortinet, Group-IB, Kaspersky Lab, Team Cymru, Trend Micro and Uppsala Security.
Investigators found that the suspects and their infrastructures were linked to at least 35,224 identified victims who lost approximately $193 million to various hacking and fraudulent attacks. Operation Serengeti recovered approximately $44 million from victims.
Law enforcement agencies in specific regions report that Serengeti has resulted in the following actions:
Kenya : A credit card fraud case involving $8.6 million in losses was uncovered. The funds were stolen using fraudulent scripts and routed through the SWIFT system to companies in the UAE, Nigeria, and China. Nearly two dozen arrests were made.
Senegal : A Ponzi scheme that affected 1,811 victims and resulted in the loss of around $6 million was uncovered. More than 900 SIM cards, $11,000 in cash, phones, laptops, and ID cards of the victims were seized. Eight people (including five Chinese nationals) were arrested.
Nigeria : A man was arrested for running an online investment scam that made $300,000 from false cryptocurrency promises.
Cameroon : A network marketing scam that targeted victims in seven countries was uncovered. The victims were promised jobs but were ultimately held captive and forced to recruit others to escape. The group collected at least $150,000 in membership fees.
Angola : An international group operating a virtual casino in Luanda was dismantled. Hundreds of people were deceived by promises of winnings in exchange for recruiting new members. 150 arrests were made, 200 computers and more than 100 mobile phones were seized.
Algeria, Benin, Ivory Coast, DRC, Gabon, Ghana, Mauritius, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, Zambia and Zimbabwe were also involved in Operation Serengeti.
The operation was coordinated by Interpol and Afripol and was carried out between September 2 and October 31, 2024. Serengeti is reported to have primarily “targeted criminals involved in ransomware, BEC attacks, digital extortion, and online fraud.”
In total, authorities in 19 African countries arrested 1,006 suspects and destroyed 134,089 malicious infrastructures and networks based on intelligence provided by security partners such as Cybercrime Atlas, Fortinet, Group-IB, Kaspersky Lab, Team Cymru, Trend Micro and Uppsala Security.
Investigators found that the suspects and their infrastructures were linked to at least 35,224 identified victims who lost approximately $193 million to various hacking and fraudulent attacks. Operation Serengeti recovered approximately $44 million from victims.
Phones were seized from the suspects
Law enforcement agencies in specific regions report that Serengeti has resulted in the following actions:
Kenya : A credit card fraud case involving $8.6 million in losses was uncovered. The funds were stolen using fraudulent scripts and routed through the SWIFT system to companies in the UAE, Nigeria, and China. Nearly two dozen arrests were made.
Senegal : A Ponzi scheme that affected 1,811 victims and resulted in the loss of around $6 million was uncovered. More than 900 SIM cards, $11,000 in cash, phones, laptops, and ID cards of the victims were seized. Eight people (including five Chinese nationals) were arrested.
Nigeria : A man was arrested for running an online investment scam that made $300,000 from false cryptocurrency promises.
Cameroon : A network marketing scam that targeted victims in seven countries was uncovered. The victims were promised jobs but were ultimately held captive and forced to recruit others to escape. The group collected at least $150,000 in membership fees.
Angola : An international group operating a virtual casino in Luanda was dismantled. Hundreds of people were deceived by promises of winnings in exchange for recruiting new members. 150 arrests were made, 200 computers and more than 100 mobile phones were seized.
Algeria, Benin, Ivory Coast, DRC, Gabon, Ghana, Mauritius, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, Zambia and Zimbabwe were also involved in Operation Serengeti.