INTERPOL has arrested 58 people and identified 263 suspects across 22 countries following an eight-month operation targeting West African and other organised crime networks.
The operation, known as Operation Jackal IV, ran from November 2025 to June 2026 and involved Nigeria alongside 21 other countries across six continents. Investigators focused on dismantling criminal networks, tracing illicit financial flows, recovering proceeds and supporting prosecutions.
INTERPOL said the operation targeted networks linked to cyber-enabled fraud, including romance scams, cryptocurrency and investment fraud, as well as business email compromise schemes. It also named Black Axe among the West African criminal networks of concern.
In Argentina, investigators identified 196 people allegedly connected to a Crime-as-a-Service network that supplied website domains and money-laundering services to West African criminal groups, leading to 17 arrests.
South African authorities arrested 39 suspects during raids in Johannesburg linked to alleged romance and investment scams. The operation also led to the seizure of $2.67 million and the freezing of 257 bank accounts.
Investigations in Italy and Romania uncovered alleged money-laundering and investment scam networks, while Romanian authorities arrested 11 people and recovered cash, cryptocurrency, properties and luxury watches.
INTERPOL also warned of rising sextortion cases involving organised crime groups and minors, as well as the growing use of dark web Crime-as-a-Service providers to outsource activities such as money laundering.
