Interpol operation disrupts romance scam and sextortion networks in Africa | CyberScoop<\/title> <meta name=\"description\" content=\"Authorities said the cybercrime rings impacted almost 1,500 victims, resulting in about $2.8 million in combined losses.\"> <link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/interpol-operation-contender-3-africa\/\"> <meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\"> <meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\"> <meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Interpol operation disrupts romance scam and sextortion networks in Africa\"> <meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Authorities said the cybercrime rings impacted almost 1,500 victims, resulting in about $2.8 million in combined losses.\"> <meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/interpol-operation-contender-3-africa\/\"> <meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CyberScoop\"> <meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cyberscoop\/\"> <meta 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class=\"single-article__cover-image wp-post-image\" alt=\"Authorities spanning 14 countries in Africa seized devices allegedly used for romance scams and extortion. (Interpol)\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/interpol-operation-disrupts-romance-scam-and-sextortion-networks-in-africa-2.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/interpol-operation-disrupts-romance-scam-and-sextortion-networks-in-africa-2.jpg?resize=300,198 300w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/interpol-operation-disrupts-romance-scam-and-sextortion-networks-in-africa-2.jpg?resize=768,507 768w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/interpol-operation-disrupts-romance-scam-and-sextortion-networks-in-africa-2.jpg?resize=600,396 600w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/interpol-operation-disrupts-romance-scam-and-sextortion-networks-in-africa-2.jpg?resize=254,168 254w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/interpol-operation-disrupts-romance-scam-and-sextortion-networks-in-africa-2.jpg?resize=510,337 510w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/interpol-operation-disrupts-romance-scam-and-sextortion-networks-in-africa-2.jpg?resize=1022,675 1022w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1022px) 100vw, 1022px\"><figcaption> Authorities spanning 14 countries in Africa seized devices allegedly used for romance scams and extortion. (Interpol) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"single-article__content\">\n<div class=\"single-article__content-inner has-drop-cap\"> <html readability=\"34.570352618966\"><body readability=\"70.650366748166\"><\/p>\n<p>Authorities arrested 260 cybercrime suspects during a two-week operation spanning 14 African countries, Interpol announced Friday. The globally coordinated summertime crackdown dubbed \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.interpol.int\/News-and-Events\/News\/2025\/260-suspected-scammers-arrested-in-pan-African-cybercrime-operation\">Operation Contender 3.0<\/a>\u201d targeted criminal networks that facilitated romance scams and sextortion, officials said. <\/p>\n<p>Interpol said total losses attributed to the scam syndicates amounted to about $2.8 million, involving almost 1,500 victims. Authorities seized USB drives, SIM cards, forged documents and dismantled 81 cybercrime infrastructure networks across the continent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCybercrime units across Africa are reporting a sharp rise in digital-enabled crimes such as sextortion and romance scams,\u201d Cyril Gout, acting executive director of police services at Interpol, said in a statement. \u201cThe growth of online platforms has opened new opportunities for criminal networks to exploit victims, causing both financial loss and psychological harm.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Authorities in Ghana arrested 68 people, seized 835 devices and identified 108 victims who lost a combined $450,000, $70,000 of which was recovered. The suspects allegedly used fake profiles, forged identities and stolen images to deceive victims using multiple schemes, including fake courier and customs shipment fees, and sextortion for blackmail.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--inline_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Police in Senegal arrested 22 suspects who allegedly defrauded 120 victims on social media and dating platforms of about $34,000 combined. <\/p>\n<p>In Cote d\u2019Ivoire, police arrested 24 suspects and identified 809 victims who were allegedly manipulated to share intimate images before they were blackmailed. Angola authorities arrested eight people for allegedly scamming 28 domestic and international victims via social media. <\/p>\n<p>Group-IB and Trend Micro assisted in the investigation, and other countries participating in the effort included Benin, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Guinea, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBy working closely with our member countries and private sector partners, we remain committed to disrupting and dismantling the groups that prey on vulnerable individuals online,\u201d Gout said.<\/p>\n<p>Operation Contender 3.0 occurred, in part, during a much larger Interpol cybercrime crackdown in Africa that resulted in the arrest of 1,209 alleged cybercriminals. Authorities said financial losses attributed to cybercrime rings disrupted during <a href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/interpol-operation-serengeti-2-africa\/\">Operation Serengeti 2.0<\/a> neared $485 million from almost 88,000 victims.<\/p>\n<p><\/body> <\/p>\n<footer class=\"single-article__footer\" readability=\"3.8240343347639\">\n<div class=\"author-card\" readability=\"14\">\n<div class=\"author-card__avatar\">\n<figure class=\"author-card__image-wrap\"> <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"author-card__image\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/interpol-operation-disrupts-romance-scam-and-sextortion-networks-in-africa-1.jpg?w=640&ssl=1\" alt=\"Matt Kapko\"> <\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><h4 class=\"author-card__name\">Written by Matt Kapko<\/h4>\n<p> Matt Kapko is a reporter at CyberScoop. His beat includes cybercrime, ransomware, software defects and vulnerability (mis)management. The lifelong Californian started his journalism career in 2001 with previous stops at Cybersecurity Dive, CIO, SDxCentral and RCR Wireless News. 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Scoop","author_link":"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/author\/cyberscoop\/"},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/category\/africa\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Africa<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/category\/cybercrime\/\" rel=\"category tag\">cybercrime<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/category\/cybersecurity\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Cybersecurity<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/category\/interpol\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Interpol<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/category\/money\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Money<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/category\/operation-contender-3-0\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Operation Contender 3.0<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/category\/romance-scams\/\" rel=\"category tag\">romance scams<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/category\/sextortion\/\" rel=\"category 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{"id":8033,"date":"2025-09-29T12:37:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T17:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/?p=86171"},"modified":"2025-09-29T12:37:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T17:37:11","slug":"interpol-operation-disrupts-romance-scam-and-sextortion-networks-in-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/2025\/09\/29\/interpol-operation-disrupts-romance-scam-and-sextortion-networks-in-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Interpol operation disrupts romance scam and sextortion networks in Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"