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INTERPOL’s African Cyberthreat Assessment Report 2026 says artificial intelligence is now linked to 55% of reported cybercrime across Africa, helping criminals scale scams, credential harvesting, and automated social engineering while making attacks harder to detect. The report says cybercrime losses on the continent rose from $192 million in 2024 to $484 million, with major threats including business email compromise, romance scams, deepfake-enabled sextortion, synthetic identity fraud, ransomware, and pervasive mobile money fraud; nearly all surveyed countries reported mobile-money-related abuse, and 72% said scam centers were operating within their borders.
INTERPOL described the threat landscape as an industrialized, cross-border ecosystem tied in some cases to human trafficking and transnational organized crime, with regional patterns ranging from mobile money fraud and ransomware in East Africa to prolific BEC and romance scams in Central and West Africa. The agency said weak real-time information sharing among banks, telecoms, and law enforcement is being exploited by criminals, but noted some defensive gains: 17 countries updated cybercrime laws, Tanzania reported a 19% drop in fraud attempts after stricter SIM registration enforcement, Senegal launched an online reporting platform for digital violations affecting children, and four major cybercrime operations in 2025 led to more than 1,500 arrests and over $100 million recovered.
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The report says citizens in Ghana lost USD 1.3 million to mobile money fraud, including SIM-swap attacks, between January and March 2025.
INTERPOL said four major cybercrime operations in 2025—Operation Serengeti 2.0, Operation Contender 3.0, Operation Sentinel, and Operation Red Card 2.0—collectively resulted in more than 1,500 arrests, hundreds of device seizures, and over USD 100 million recovered.
According to the INTERPOL report, 17 African countries enacted or amended cybercrime legislation during 2025 as part of broader defensive progress.
INTERPOL's African Cyberthreat Assessment Report 2026 analyzed cybercrime developments from January through December 2025 using survey data from African member countries. The report found AI-linked scams, fraud, and other cybercrime patterns across the continent during that period.
INTERPOL's assessment says cybercrime-related losses in Africa totaled USD 192 million in 2024, providing the baseline for the later increase reported in 2025.
INTERPOL published its African Cyberthreat Assessment Report 2026, stating that AI was linked to 55 percent of reported cybercrime incidents across Africa and that losses had risen to USD 484 million.
Senegal launched an online reporting platform intended to improve responses to digital or online violations affecting children.
INTERPOL reported that Tanzania recorded a 19 percent reduction in fraud attempts following stricter SIM registration enforcement.
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INTERPOL and industry reporting warn that transnational fraud networks are becoming more sophisticated and more profitable by combining **AI-enabled deception**, crypto abuse, and organized scam-center operations. INTERPOL’s 2026 Global Financial Fraud Threat Assessment says AI-enhanced fraud is **4.5 times** more profitable than traditional methods and links financial fraud to broader criminal ecosystems including cybercrime, human trafficking, and terrorist financing. Researchers and investigators described tools such as **ProKYC** that can forge identity documents, generate deepfaked liveness checks, create selfie-with-ID images, and tailor verification artifacts to defeat KYC controls, while a cybercrime forum vendor separately advertised fraudulently verified accounts on exchanges including `Bitget`, `Bitvavo`, and `Kraken` with European IBAN and SEPA capabilities, underscoring how criminals are abusing rather than breaching financial platforms. Authorities are responding with wider enforcement actions against the infrastructure behind these scams. In India, Goa police arrested seven suspects, questioned 24 others, raided more than 40 locations across 11 states, and identified **313 suspected mule accounts** in an investigation spanning investment scams, sextortion, parcel fraud, fake hotel bookings, and so-called digital arrest schemes. In Cambodia, officials said raids across at least five provinces led to more than **1,000 arrests** tied to cybercrime and online scam compounds, part of a broader regional crackdown on an industry the UN says generates billions of dollars annually and has been linked to trafficked workers and abuse. INTERPOL said fraud-related Notices and Diffusions have risen **54% since 2024**, with support in more than **1,500** transnational fraud cases involving **$1.1 billion** in losses, and it is launching **Operation Shadow Storm** to target scam-centre-linked fraud, cybercrime, and human trafficking.
Aug 5, 2026
**INTERPOL’s Operation Red Card 2.0**, coordinated under the **African Joint Operation against Cybercrime (AFJOC)**, resulted in **651 arrests** across **16 African countries** and the recovery of **over $4.3 million** tied to online scam activity. The operation ran from **December 8, 2025 to January 30, 2026**, identified **1,247 victims**, and targeted criminal activity linked to **over $45 million** in losses, including **high-yield investment fraud**, **mobile money fraud**, and **fraudulent mobile loan applications**. Law enforcement reported significant disruption activity, including the seizure of **2,341 devices** and takedowns of **1,442 malicious IPs/domains/servers (and related infrastructure)**. Notable actions included Nigeria dismantling an investment-fraud ring that leveraged **phishing, identity theft, and social engineering** (with **1,000+ fraudulent social media accounts** removed) and arresting **six suspects** accused of breaching a major telecom provider using **compromised staff credentials** to steal airtime/data for resale; Kenya arrested **27 suspects** tied to social-media/messaging-driven fraud schemes; and Côte d’Ivoire arrested **58 suspects** linked to predatory loan-app activity with hidden fees and abusive collection practices.
Jun 29, 2026
Law enforcement agencies across 19 African countries, coordinated by INTERPOL under Operation Sentinel, arrested 574 suspects and recovered approximately $3 million in a sweeping crackdown on cybercrime. The month-long operation targeted business email compromise (BEC), digital extortion, and ransomware, resulting in the takedown of over 6,000 malicious links and the decryption of six ransomware variants. Notable incidents included the prevention of a $7.9 million BEC fraud at a Senegalese petroleum company, a ransomware attack on a Ghanaian financial institution that encrypted 100 terabytes of data, and the dismantling of a cross-border scam in Ghana and Nigeria that defrauded over 200 victims. Authorities also seized more than 100 digital devices, took down 30 servers, and shut down thousands of scam-linked social media accounts, with total financial losses from investigated cases exceeding $21 million. The operation highlighted the increasing scale and sophistication of cyberattacks targeting critical sectors such as finance and energy across Africa. International cooperation and rapid response were key to the operation's success, with support from private sector partners including Team Cymru, The Shadowserver Foundation, Trend Micro, TRM Labs, and Uppsala Security. The results demonstrate a strong commitment by African law enforcement and their international partners to combat cybercrime and protect digital infrastructure in the region.
Jun 29, 2026