Nigeria takes down international cybercrime in INTERPOL’s Operation Red Card
Date: 2025-03-24
Nigeria emerged as a major battleground in INTERPOL’s Operation Red Card, with law enforcement arresting 130 suspects—including 113 foreign nationals in a sweeping crackdown on transnational cybercrime syndicates running sophisticated online casino scams, investment fraud, and cryptocurrency money laundering schemes.
The Nigerian
Police Force, working with INTERPOL and cybersecurity firm Kaspersky,
dismantled a highly organized criminal network that recruited operatives from
multiple countries to defraud victims across Africa and beyond. Key findings
include: multilingual scam operations, crypto
money laundering and international ecruitment. Many suspects were foreign
nationals brought into Nigeria specifically to run these scams, highlighting
the **cross-border nature** of cybercrime in Africa.
Kaspersky
provided INTERPOL with critical threat intelligence, including analysis of malicious
apps used to facilitate scams, data on command-and-control servers linked to
the fraud networks and patterns of cryptocurrency transactions used to launder
stolen funds.
“This operation
sends a clear message: Nigeria will not be a haven for cybercriminals,” said a senior Nigerian police official. “We are working closely
with INTERPOL and global cybersecurity partners to track, arrest, and prosecute
those involved in these crimes.”
Neal Jetton,
INTERPOL’s Cybercrime Director, added:
“The arrests in
Nigeria underscore the globalized nature of cybercrime. No country can fight it
alone—international cooperation is essential.”
Authorities are
now tracing cryptocurrency flows to recover stolen funds and identify
additional accomplices. Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) is tightening regulations on digital asset exchanges to
prevent future laundering.
Operation Red
Card’s success in Nigeria highlights the growing collaboration between African
law enforcement and cybersecurity experts to combat digital fraud. With
Kaspersky’s support, INTERPOL aims to replicate this model across the
continent.
By: Kanto Kai Okanta
