Police in 21 countries have just pulled off one of the biggest cybercrime operations the continent has seen. More than 1,400 suspects were arrested, and officers got back about R1.8 billion that criminals had stolen from ordinary people and businesses.
The operation is called Operation Serengeti III, and Interpol led it. Its targets were the online scams that keep draining bank accounts across Africa.
What Interpol announced
According to Interpol, the operation ran from 29 June to 31 August 2026. Officers went after online fraud, ransomware, business email compromise, digital extortion and a range of other internet scams.
Here is how the results look on paper:
| What was achieved | Result |
|---|---|
| Suspects arrested | 1,462 |
| Malicious networks disrupted | 10,909 |
| Illicit funds recovered | More than $105 million (about R1.8 billion) |
| Victims identified | 65,929 |
| Losses linked to investigations | More than $385 million |
A table like this makes the scale easy to grasp, but remember that every number is a person. Someone lost their savings. Someone’s business ran dry.
Officers from Africa and the United States worked on this together. Before the operation began, investigators from 20 African countries and the US were handed intelligence on suspicious websites, internet addresses and the servers criminals use to run their schemes. That gave the teams a simple place to start.
Why this cybercrime wave is growing
Interpol says cybercrime isn’t standing still. Artificial intelligence is now helping scammers work faster than ever. They can produce believable messages, fake websites and call scripts in minutes. Money lost to online crime keeps climbing.
The organisation points to its African Cyber Threat Assessment Report 2026, which explains how quickly things are changing.
Neal Jetton, Interpol’s Director of Cybercrime, put it bluntly. Criminal networks don’t care about borders, he said, and they use technology to hit victims on a huge scale. But he also stressed that countries working together remain one of the best ways to shut these groups down and get stolen assets back.
He has a point. A scammer in one country can empty a bank account in another before the victim has finished their coffee. One police force on its own can’t stop that.
Fraud rings dismantled in Uganda
Some of the biggest results came out of Uganda. Police broke up two transnational fraud rings and arrested 365 foreign nationals.
Interpol says the groups ran online investment and pension scams aimed at people in Asia. Investigators found a rotating call centre setup. Staff followed scripts, pointed victims to fake trading platforms and fraudulent websites, and convinced pensioners to invest in opportunities that simply didn’t exist.
Pensioners are a favourite target. They’ve spent decades building up their savings, and scammers know it.
Illegal crypto mining centres shut down in Angola
In Angola, investigators shut down two illegal cryptocurrency mining centres. Nine suspects were arrested. Police also seized more than 2,000 mining devices and six illegal power transformation stations.
Interpol says the electrical equipment alone was worth over $1 million. Crypto mining eats up huge amounts of electricity, so operations like these can put real pressure on a country’s power supply.
Phishing and investment fraud in Nigeria
Nigeria saw a few important arrests. Authorities detained a suspect linked to a big phishing and business email compromise operation. According to Interpol, the scheme harvested software login details and collected around 2.1 million email addresses. Police also recovered a luxury vehicle believed to have been bought with criminal money.
A separate case involved an international investment fraud scheme that was pushed through messaging apps. One suspect was arrested there. Interpol says financial investigators followed more than $2.4 million in suspected criminal proceeds, and much of it had been laundered through cryptocurrency.
Other countries join the fight
The crackdown didn’t stop there. In Tanzania, police broke up a scheme built on malicious mobile loan apps. In Gabon, authorities disrupted a vehicle import scam that ran on social media. In the Republic of Congo, officers arrested 30 suspects tied to a cybercrime operation.
Interpol hasn’t said that every African country took part. Its public update names a number of nations along with the United States.
Who helped Interpol
Interpol says private companies played a big role by sharing intelligence, technical analysis and expert knowledge. The partners include Group IB, Kaspersky, Fortinet, TrendAI, Team Cymru, Uppsala Security, Cybercrime Atlas, Meta and the Global Anti Scam Alliance. Zimbabwe’s Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority helped too.
Funding came partly from the Global Action on Cybercrime Enhanced project, a joint effort by the European Union and the Council of Europe.
Police and tech firms working side by side is a simple idea, and it clearly pays off. Companies can see how criminals misuse their platforms, and officers can act on what they find.
The investigation is not over
Interpol says the investigations linked to Operation Serengeti III are still active. Officers are hunting for more suspects, following the money trail and going through the digital evidence they seized. Don’t be surprised if more arrests follow in the coming months.
What this means for South African readers
Interpol’s update focuses on other countries, but the lessons land close to home. South Africans see the same tricks every day: fake investment offers, phishing emails, dodgy loan apps and scam messages on WhatsApp.
A few easy habits can keep you safer. Take a moment before you click on anything, because real banks never ask for your PIN or password by email or SMS. Look closely at sender addresses and web links, since a single wrong letter often gives a fake away. If an investment promises guaranteed high returns, treat that as a warning sign. Stick to official app stores and check who made an app before you hand over personal details. Switch on two step verification wherever you can, as it’s a simple habit that blocks plenty of attacks.
It also helps to talk to your parents and grandparents. Older people are targeted a lot, and a five minute chat could save them a fortune.
If you think you’ve been scammed, call your bank straight away and report it to the South African Police Service at saps.gov.za. The faster you move, the better your chances of stopping the money from disappearing.
For more on global policing efforts, visit the official Interpol website.
The bottom line
Operation Serengeti III shows what happens when countries share information and act together. The arrests, seized equipment and recovered money will hurt many criminal groups. Still, the threat hasn’t gone away, and scammers will keep coming up with new tricks.
For everyday South Africans, the best protection is easy to remember. Stay alert, question anything that sounds too good to be true, and report suspicious activity early. One simple pause before you click or pay could save your hard earned money.
About the Author
