A sting operation carried out by the International Criminal Police Organization better known as Interpol has uncovered a series of cybercimes in 14 African countries, APA can report on Friday.
Such incidents of extracting money from victims through threats of exposure known as sextortion had been valued at millions of dollars this year alone.
Ans an unintended consequence, the multiplication of interactive online platforms has given rise to internet syndicates dedicated to sextortion targeting unspspecting victims across Africa and beyond.
Using fake profiles, suspected cybercriminals in supposedly romantic entanglements demand exorbitant amounts from their victims who face being exposed on the internet if they refused.
At least 260 alleged scammers have been arrested in 14 African countries in a coordinated sting operation involving the United Kingdom and other collaborators around the world.
The main targets were cybercrime syndicates extorting money from victims through social media and other online platforms where millions flock to in search of genuine love and other forms of social interactions.
Some of the alleged crimes involved swindling through internet romance or sextortion.
These cybercrime crackdowns lasted from July to August this year and covered eight West African countries namely Senegal, Ghana, Gambia, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Benin, Ivory Coast and Guinea.
The other African countries where the Interpol reached include Angola, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, South Africa and Zambia.
Over 65 arrests were made in Ghana alone where gadgets from alleged cybercriminals were impounded when it was discovered that they had swindled over 1000 of their victims.
A number of similar arrests was also made in Angola and Ivory Coast And in Ivory Coast where internet devices used in cybercrime activities were seized and 809 victims indentified.
In Senegal 120 cybercime victims were identified after police there with the help of Interpol detained 22 suspects who were unmasked as part of a ring impersonating national figures and obtained $34,000 by false pretenses.
There were eight arrests in Angola where suspects used similar extortion methods.
WN/as/APA