It’s one of the biggest cybercrime crackdowns in Africa.
INTERPOL, working with law enforcement across 14 countries, has dismantled a web of online scammers who exploited social media and dating platforms.
In Ghana, the police played a decisive role, arresting 68 suspects and seizing hundreds of devices.
A sweeping international police operation has exposed a sprawling cybercrime network across Africa.
Dubbed Operation Contender 3.0, the crackdown led to the arrest of 260 suspected scammers, with Ghana accounting for 68 of those arrests.
According to INTERPOL, the suspects orchestrated romance scams and sextortion plots, exploiting fake profiles, stolen images, and forged identities to lure victims into paying fraudulent fees or to extort money using secretly recorded intimate videos.
Ghana’s law enforcement seized 835 electronic devices, identified 108 victims, and uncovered financial losses totalling 450,000 dollars, 70,000 of which have already been recovered.
Across the continent, more than 1,200 devices were confiscated, 81 cybercrime infrastructures dismantled, and thousands of potential victims identified.
Funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the operation spanned from July 28 to August 11, 2025, dealing a heavy blow to online fraudsters and sending a clear signal that international cooperation is tightening the net on cybercriminals.
By Peter Quao Adattor
