INTERPOL has arrested eight individuals in Côte d'Ivoire and Nigeria as part of a significant operation targeting phishing scams and romance fraud. Known as Operation Contender 2.0, this initiative aims to combat cyber-enabled crimes across West Africa.
Among the scams investigated, a large-scale phishing scheme aimed at Swiss citizens led to financial losses exceeding $1.4 million. Cybercriminals impersonated buyers on small advertising websites, directing victims to fraudulent sites that mimicked a legitimate payment platform through QR codes. This deception allowed victims to unknowingly provide personal information, including their credentials and card numbers. Additionally, the perpetrators posed as customer service agents from the legitimate platform, further misleading victims.
Between August 2023 and April 2024, Swiss authorities received approximately 260 reports of such scams, prompting a collaborative investigation that traced the operation back to Côte d'Ivoire. The main suspect confessed to orchestrating the attacks and claimed illicit earnings of over $1.9 million. Five other individuals engaged in cybercriminal activities at the same location were also apprehended.
In a separate incident, a suspect and their accomplice were arrested in Nigeria on April 27, 2024, in connection with a romance scam. Finnish authorities had alerted the Nigerian Police Force via INTERPOL, reporting that a victim had been defrauded of a "substantial amount of money." These financial grooming crimes involve scammers creating fake identities on dating apps and social media to cultivate relationships with victims, ultimately leading to theft.
Cybercriminals are exploiting the growing reliance on technology in our daily lives, using various techniques to steal data and commit fraud.
said Neal Jetton, Director of the Cybercrime Directorate.
The success of Operation Contender 2.0 highlights the importance of ongoing international collaboration to combat cybercrime and hold offenders accountable.
This announcement comes on the heels of the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) sentencing Oludayo Kolawole John Adeagbo, a 45-year-old dual citizen of Nigeria and the United Kingdom, to seven years in prison for his involvement in a multimillion-dollar business email compromise (BEC) scheme. Adeagbo conspired with others to defraud a North Carolina university of over $1.9 million and attempted to steal more than $3 million from various entities in Texas, including local government bodies, construction companies, and a Houston-area college.
Additionally, Meta has announced its partnership with U.K. banks to combat scams on its platforms through a new information-sharing initiative called the Fraud Intelligence Reciprocal Exchange (FIRE).
Credit:TheHackerNews.
