Two months of coordinated efforts lead to the arrest of suspects behind romance and sextortion scams, with monies and infrastructures seized.

Authorities across 14 African countries have arrested 260 suspects in a coordinated operation targeting cybercrime syndicates involved in romance scams and sextortion schemes.

The operations, coordinated by Interpol and funded by the UK, were conducted between 28 July and 11 August 2025, and led to the seizure of 1,235 electronic devices and the dismantling of 81 cybercriminal infrastructures. Almost 1,500 victims were identified, with estimated financial losses approaching US$2.8m.

Investigations reveal that the criminals involved had exploited social media and dating platforms by creating fake profiles using stolen images and forged identities:

• In romance scams, victims were deceived into paying fees such as fake courier or customs charges.
• Sextortion cases involved perpetrators secretly recording explicit video chats to blackmail victims for money.
• Ghana operations reported the highest number of arrests, detaining 68 suspects and seizing 835 devices. Authorities there identified 108 victims with losses totaling about US$450,000, recovering US$70,000.
• In Senegal, 22 suspects were arrested for impersonating celebrities on social media to defraud 120 victims of approximately US$34,000.
• This series of operations follows previous coordinated international efforts, including arrests related to a romance scam in Nigeria and a large-scale phishing scheme in Côte d’Ivoire in 2024, where financial harm was estimated to have exceeded US$1.4m.
• Said Cyril Gout, Acting Executive Director, Police Services, INTERPOL: “The growth of online platforms has opened new opportunities for criminal networks to exploit victims, causing both financial loss and psychological harm. By working closely with our member countries and private sector partners, we remain committed to disrupting and dismantling the groups that prey on vulnerable individuals online.”

According to Dmitry Volkov, CEO, Group-IB, one of the INTERPOL Gateway Partners that had provided intelligence on the perpetrators: “… Romance scams and sextortion deliberately exploit some of the deepest human vulnerabilities, such as trust and emotional attachment. They manipulate victims by taking advantage of their feelings and personal relationships, turning genuine emotions into tools of deception and coercion. We are grateful to INTERPOL and all participating authorities for their swift response and tireless efforts for this operation.”