Operation Serengeti III Reports Nearly 1,500 Arrests Across Africa and the US
Summary
Interpol says its two-month Operation Serengeti III led to nearly 1,500 arrests across 20 African countries and the US, recovered $105 million in stolen funds, and shut down nearly 11,000 malicious networks.
Key points
- Interpol reported nearly 1,500 arrests, $105 million recovered and nearly 11,000 malicious networks shut down during the two-month operation.
- In Uganda, authorities dismantled two fraud rings using call centers, scripted communications and fake trading platforms to target elderly people in Asia; 365 foreign nationals were arrested.
- Nigerian police shut down two fraud operations, including a phishing and business email compromise campaign using 2.1 million email addresses.
- Interpol said AI helped scammers personalize phishing messages and manage target lists; some operations also used voice cloning, deepfake videos and chatbots.
- In Angola, police arrested nine suspects, dismantled two illegal cryptocurrency-mining sites and seized more than 2,000 mining devices.
- Interpol said investigators are continuing to use seized data and other information to pursue suspected cybercriminals.
Article Details
- Event Type
- International law-enforcement cybercrime operation
- Impact
- Operation Serengeti III resulted in nearly 1,500 arrests across 20 African countries and the US, recovery of $105 million in stolen funds, and the shutdown of nearly 11,000 malicious networks. Reported cases included dismantling fraud rings in Uganda, cryptocurrency mining sites in Angola, and phishing and investment-fraud operations in Nigeria.
MITRE ATT&CK
People
Jacomo PiccoliniTeam Cymru vice president of global data partnerships; commented on cybercriminal infrastructure and international law-enforcement collaboration.Neal JettonInterpol director for cybercrime; discussed the operation, its results, and the reported use of AI in phishing and fraud campaigns.
Countries
AngolaIn another arm of the operation, national police arrested nine suspects in Angola, dismantling two illegal cryptocurrency mining sites and seizing more than 2,000 devices used to mine crypto along with six illegal powerNigeriaIn Nigeria, police shuttered two fraud operations: One using 2.1 million email addresses to create a large-scale phishing and business email compromise (BEC) operation, while another scheme focused on internationalUgandaIn Uganda, for example, two transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) used a rotating call-center model with scripted communications, fraudulent websites, and fake trading platforms to convince elderly victims in Asia