INTERPOL announced on Thursday, October 22, that a coordinated law-enforcement operation codenamed Operation Serengeti III had disrupted 10,909 malicious cybercrime networks and led to the arrest of 1,462 suspects by agencies in 21 countries, with more than $105 million in illicit funds recovered.
Source: INTERPOL statement via The Hacker News
Yaani, in easier terms: the recovered $105 million is about 10.5 crore US dollars, while the losses linked to the criminal activity — more than $385 million — are about 38.5 crore US dollars. INTERPOL said investigators identified 65,929 victims targeted by the networks.
The operation ran from June 29 to August 31, 2026, and targeted cyber-enabled fraud, ransomware, business email compromise, online scams and digital extortion, INTERPOL said. Participating countries included Angola, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, along with the United States and others.
Source: Pulse Kenya (reporting INTERPOL)
What happened in Uganda, Angola and Nigeria
In Uganda, police dismantled two transnational investment and pension fraud operations and arrested 365 people, according to reporting of the operation's country results. In Angola, authorities shut down illegal cryptocurrency-mining sites, seized more than 2,000 mining devices and confiscated unauthorised power installations. In Nigeria, investigators arrested a suspect accused of running a large phishing scheme that collected login credentials and about 2.1 million email addresses.
Source: EuropeSays / Anadolu-style report on INTERPOL results
“Cybercrime networks operate without regard for borders, exploiting technology to target victims on an unprecedented scale,” INTERPOL's Director of Cybercrime Neal Jetton said in the statement. Private-sector partners including Group-IB and Team Cymru said they had supplied threat intelligence on phishing kits, botnets and other malicious infrastructure used in or hosted in Africa.
What is solid
- INTERPOL announced the results on Thursday, October 22, 2026.
- The operation ran June 29 to August 31, 2026, across 21 countries.
- INTERPOL put recovered funds at more than $105 million and linked losses at more than $385 million.
What is only claimed
- Country-by-country breakdowns beyond the Uganda, Angola and Nigeria highlights were not published by INTERPOL for every participating country.
- How much of the recovered money will ultimately be returned to individual victims has not been stated.
For readers in Punjab and the diaspora, the case is a reminder behind a familiar pattern: many of the networks targeted ran investment, pension and email-compromise scams of the kind that routinely target families through phone calls, messages and fake trading platforms. Police advice everywhere remains the same — verify any investment or pension offer through an official channel before sending money.