Interpol conducted Operation Sentinel, an international operation that resulted in the arrest of 574 people and the recovery of $3 million stolen through BEC attacks, fraud, and extortion.
The operation took place from October 27 to November 27, 2025 , with the participation of law enforcement agencies from 19 countries. During this time, over 6,000 malicious links were deleted and the encryption of six ransomware variants was cracked.
A BEC attack on an oil company in Senegal has reportedly been foiled. The attackers attempted to steal $7.9 million via bank transfer. The accounts were frozen before the funds could be withdrawn.
Ghana has become the scene of an investigation into a ransomware attack on a financial institution. Criminals encrypted 100 TB of data and stole $120,000 . Experts analyzed the malware used in the attack, created a decryptor , and recovered 30 TB of data. Those involved in the case have already been arrested.
International scammers from Ghana and Nigeria created fake websites for well-known fast food chains. Ultimately, the criminals defrauded over $400,000 from over 200 victims . Law enforcement arrested ten people, seized over 100 devices, and took down approximately 30 of the hackers’ servers.
One of the most significant phases of the operation took place in Benin: 106 people were arrested, 43 malicious domains were deleted, and 4,318 fraudulent social media accounts were closed.
A car sales scam was uncovered in Cameroon . Investigators identified the compromised server and froze the perpetrators’ bank accounts within hours.
“Cyberattacks in Africa are becoming increasingly widespread and sophisticated, particularly those targeting critical sectors such as finance and energy,” Interpol said.
In addition to law enforcement, the private sector also actively participated in the operation. Specialists from Team Cymru, The Shadowserver Foundation, Trend Micro, TRM Labs, and Uppsala Security helped track down IP addresses implicated in ransomware and fraud attacks and freeze criminal assets.
Sentinel is not INTERPOL’s first major operation in the region.
For example, in August this year, Operation Serengeti 2.0 led to the arrest of 1,209 cybercrime suspects . $97.4 million was recovered and 11,432 malicious infrastructures linked to attacks against 87,858 victims were shut down.
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