Interpol arrests eight in major crackdown on phishing and romance scams in West Africa

Interpol announced eight arrests in Côte d'Ivoire and Nigeria as part of its fight against phishing and cyber-romance scams.

The effort, called "Operation Contender 2.0," aims to combat cybercrime in West Africa, the agency said. One such threat was a large-scale phishing scam targeting Swiss citizens that resulted in financial losses of over $1.4 million.

Cybersecurity
Cybercriminals posed as customers on small advertising sites and used QR codes to direct their victims to fraudulent sites imitating a legitimate payment platform. As a result, the victim could accidentally enter personal information such as accounting data and card number. The criminal also issued himself as an unknown customer service agent to further deceive them. Swiss authorities reportedly received approximately 260 fraud reports between August 2023 and April 2024 and have launched a joint investigation to trace the origins of the campaign to Côte d'Ivoire.

The main suspect in the attack admitted to participating in the scheme and making illegal financial benefits of over $1.9 million. Five other individuals conducting cybercriminal activities at the same location have also been arrested.

Phishing and Romance Fraud
In a separate case, authorities said it apprehended a suspect and their accomplice in Nigeria on April 27, 2024, in connection with a romance scam after Finnish authorities alerted the Nigerian Police Force via INTERPOL that a victim was scammed out of a \"substantial amount of money.\"

Such financial grooming crimes entail scammers creating fake online identities on dating apps and social media platforms to develop romantic or close relationships with prospective victims, only to steal money from them. \ "Increasing dependence on technology in every aspect of everyday life, cyber criminals use a certain data flight method and perform fraudulent acts," said Neil Jetton. Masu.

\ "This is a recent successful cooperation under the sponsorship of competitors 2.0, indicating the importance of translating criminals into justice in pursuit of international cooperation in the battle with cyber crimes. "

Cyber ​​security
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) says that the 45 -year -old duplicate of Nigeria and the United Kingdom Yoco Collaboration John Adegbo has been sentenced to seven years in the role of a multi -million dollar sector. BEC BEC). Adegbo "conspired with others to participate in several BEC cyber schemes that resulted in the University of North Carolina receiving more than $1.9 million and attempted to steal more than $3 million from victim organizations in Texas, including local governments, construction companies, and the University of Houston," the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement. This also follows Meta's announcement that it is partnering with a UK bank to combat fraud on its platform through an information-sharing partnership program called the Fraud Intelligence Reciprocal Exchange (FIRE).