Busted. Global police arrested 1,006 suspects in Africa. Officials there are clamping down on cybercrime.
Operation Serengeti was a joint operation. The International Police Organization (Interpol) and Afripol, the African Union’s police agency, worked together. Local police and internet service providers also helped.
Agents ran operations for two months in 19 African countries. They targeted criminals behind ransomware, digital blackmail, and online scams.
Valdecy Urquiza is the newly appointed Secretary General of Interpol. He says there are more cybercrime attacks than ever. And they keep getting better. That’s a “serious concern.”
Interpol pinpointed 35,000 victims of cybercrime. Their cases are linked to nearly $193 million in financial losses worldwide.
Sinful people constantly find ways to cheat each other. But the Bible’s direction is clear. Be kind. Love one another. (Ephesians 4:32, John 13:34) Scamming and defrauding for unjust gain should have no part in believers’ lives with other image-bearers. Those who bear the name of Christ are equipped by Him to “shine as lights in the world,” despite living “in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation.” (Philippians 2:15)
Jalel Chelba is Afripol’s Executive Director. He says the operation helped Afripol improve “support for law enforcement” in Africa.
Interpol’s previous cybercrime operations in Africa had led to just 25 arrests in the last two years.
Enrique Hernandez Gonzalez is Interpol’s Assistant Director of Cybercrime Operations. He says participating countries became better able to work with intelligence.
In Kenya, police made nearly two dozen arrests in an online credit card fraud case. It is linked to losses of $8.6 million. In the West African country of Senegal, officers arrested eight people. They were involved with a $6 million online investment scheme.
Chelba says Afripol’s focus now includes emerging threats. Those include AI-driven malware and advanced cyberattack methods.
The operation dismantled a number of criminal networks. That included groups in Cameroon, Angola, and Nigeria. Criminals are suspected of using a multi-level marketing scam, an illegal virtual casino, and a cryptocurrency investment scam.
The 101-year-old Interpol has 196 member countries. Agents help national police forces communicate with each other. They track criminals in fields like financial crime, cybercrime, and organized crime.
The world’s biggest police organization now grapples with new challenges. It handles a growing caseload of cybercrime. There is more discord among member countries.
Interpol may be the biggest police agency, but it’s not the best funded. It had a total budget of about $188 million last year. The European Union’s police agency, Europol, has access to more than 200 million euros. The United States’ FBI alone has a budget of some $11 billion.
Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. — Ephesians 4:28
