Group-IB, a leading creator of cybersecurity technologies to investigate, prevent, and fight digital crime, announced today that it has contributed to INTERPOL’s “Operation Red Card”, an international crackdown on cybercrime across Africa. The operation resulted in the arrest of 306 cybercriminals and the dismantling of criminal networks responsible for scams targeting over 5,000 victims, including mobile banking fraud, investment scams, and malicious messaging app schemes. Between November 2024 and February 2025, law enforcement agencies from Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Togo, and Zambia seized a total of 1,842 devices used by cybercriminals to defraud individuals and businesses.
Devices and other items seized by law enforcement agencies during “Operation Red Card”. Courtesy of INTERPOL.
In Rwanda, the authorities successfully dismantled a large-scale social engineering network that defrauded victims of over USD 305,000 in 2024 alone. The 45 arrested individuals engaged in elaborate deception techniques, including impersonating telecommunications employees and falsely informing victims of lottery winnings to extract sensitive personal information. In other cases, scammers impersonated injured family members to elicit emergency financial assistance. Law enforcement recovered USD 103,043 and seized 292 devices, directly mitigating further fraud attempts.
In Nigeria, authorities arrested 130 suspects, including 113 foreign nationals, who operated fraudulent investment schemes and illicit online casinos. The cybercriminals funneled their illicit proceeds into digital assets to obscure their financial trails. Further investigations revealed that some individuals working in these scam operations may have been victims of human trafficking, forced or coerced into criminal activities. Nigerian law enforcement also seized 26 vehicles, 16 houses, 39 plots of land, and 685 electronic devices, disrupting the cybercrime syndicate’s operational framework.
In a major operation in South Africa, authorities apprehended 40 individuals and confiscated over 1,000 SIM cards, along with 53 desktop computers and towers tied to an elaborate SIM box fraud scheme. This type of setup enables criminals to disguise international calls as local ones, a tactic frequently exploited to launch large-scale SMS phishing campaigns.
In Zambia, law enforcement agencies arrested 14 individuals associated with a cybercriminal syndicate that specialized in device hijacking. The cybercriminals used malicious phishing messages containing trojanized links that, once clicked, infected victims’ phones with malware. This malware allowed hackers to gain full control over messaging applications and banking apps, giving them unauthorized access to victims’ financial accounts. Additionally, the hackers exploited the victims’ messaging apps to propagate fraudulent links to others, exponentially increasing the scale of the attacks.
Group-IB’s Digital Crime Resistance Center (DCRC) for the Middle East, Africa and Turkey played a valuable role in uncovering the scale of the operation and supporting law enforcement efforts. As part of Group-IB’s global network of DCRCs, the regional center leverages advanced cybersecurity technologies to investigate, prevent, and fight digital crime specific to the region. Throughout this operation, Group-IB’s High-Tech Crime Investigation Team for the Middle East, Africa, and Turkey provided intelligence on the network infrastructure and digital footprint of the threat actors behind the fraudulent activity, revealing important insights into their activities and scale of operations. Additionally, Group-IB investigators supplied comprehensive data on individuals associated with the scheme, enabling a deeper and more targeted investigation.
“The success of Operation Red Card demonstrates the power of international cooperation in combating cybercrime, which knows no borders and can have devastating effects on individuals and communities. The recovery of significant assets and devices, as well as the arrest of key suspects, sends a strong message to cybercriminals that their activities will not go unpunished.”
INTERPOL’s Director of Cybercrime Directorate
“The success of Operation Red Card is a testament to international collaboration and the power of intelligence-driven cybercrime investigations. We are proud to have supported INTERPOL, and equally grateful to the local law enforcement agencies for the efforts in the arrest of these cybercriminals. As an INTERPOL Gateway Partner, we remain committed to helping authorities to disrupt cyber threats at their source, and protect individuals and businesses from cybercriminal activities worldwide.”
CEO, Group-IB
