Mass arrests in global crackdown on West African cyber-crime networks

Fifty-eight people linked to organised West African cyber-crime groups have been arrested in an operation across 22 countries and six continents.

Dubbed "Operation Jackal IV", it was co-ordinated by the global policing agency Interpol, targeting those behind romance and investment scams. It also identified 263 suspects.

Interpol said it was a response to the escalating global threat posed by these criminal networks - such as the feared Nigerian Black Axe group - believed to be behind a "significant share" of cyber-enabled financial fraud.

The operation also allowed analysis of emerging trends such as how these groups use sextortion to target minors, with victims as young as 14.

Operation Jackal IV - which took place between November 2025 and June 2026 - investigated how the groups laundered money and how financial fraud cyber crimes, such as cryptocurrency and email compromise fraud, were conducted.

Scams often targeted "retirees in English-speaking countries", Interpol said.

"By following illicit financial flows across borders, we are attacking the very lifeblood of organised crime and making it increasingly difficult for criminal networks to profit from their activities," Tomonobu Kaya, director of Interpol's financial crime centre, said in a statement.

"Operation Jackal IV demonstrates the power of international co-operation."