Interpol recovers $105 million in Africa cybercrime sweep
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The operation highlights the growing global collaboration needed to combat sophisticated cybercrime and the persistent threat of crypto misuse.
Photo: Julio Lopez / Pexels
Operation Serengeti III led to 1,462 arrests across 21 countries, with crypto showing up in both the laundering and the illegal mining
Fri 23 Oct 2026 · 09:22 EDT · 2 min read
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Interpol says police across 21 countries arrested 1,462 suspects and recovered more than $105 million in a coordinated cybercrime crackdown centered on Africa.
The effort, called Operation Serengeti III, also disrupted 10,909 malicious networks. Crypto appeared on both sides of the ledger: as a laundering tool for scammers and as the product of illegal mining farms running on stolen power.
Inside Operation Serengeti III
The operation ran from June 29 to August 31, 2026. Interpol announced the results on Thursday, October 22.
Twenty of the participating countries were in Africa. The United States was the 21st. The target list covered most of modern online crime: ransomware, online scams, business email compromise, digital extortion and other cyber-enabled fraud.
The headline recovery figure is large. The losses behind it are larger. Financial investigations tied the disrupted networks to approximately $385 million in losses, spread across 65,929 identified victims.
Where crypto fits in
Two country-level cases stand out for anyone who follows digital assets.
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In Angola, authorities shut down two illegal crypto mining centers. Nine suspects were arrested. Police seized more than 2,000 mining devices along with illegal power infrastructure, with the haul valued at over $1 million.
In Nigeria, investigators traced more than $2.4 million in suspected investment fraud proceeds. Much of that money was laundered through crypto transactions, according to Interpol.
A separate Nigerian case involved a phishing and business email compromise operation. In that scheme, 2.1 million email addresses were harvested.
Uganda produced the largest single-country arrest count cited in the findings. Police there made 365 arrests linked to online investment and pension fraud that targeted victims in Asia.
A recurring operation, not a one-off
Serengeti III is the third edition of the program. Earlier Serengeti operations ran in 2024 and 2025 and together produced nearly $246 million in financial recoveries.
The work is also ongoing. Follow-up investigations are expected as authorities try to trace more criminal proceeds and locate additional suspects.
Disclosure: This article was edited by John Chen. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
