Law enforcement agencies in 22 countries identified 263 suspects and arrested 58 people during an international operation targeting cybercrime networks linked to criminal groups in West Africa. The operation, named Jackal IV, ran between November 2025 and June 2026, with a particular focus on the Black Axe network, known for its links to cross-border financial fraud operations.
These networks target victims through methods including romance scams, cryptocurrency and investment fraud, and business email compromise. The information also indicated links between some of these groups and violent crimes, reflecting the threat’s expansion beyond stealing money or compromising accounts.
Details of Actions in Several Countries
In Argentina, authorities arrested 17 people and linked 196 suspects to a major network providing crime-as-a-service to organized crime groups in West Africa. These services included supplying web domains and supporting money-laundering operations.
In South Africa, authorities announced the arrest of 39 people and the blocking of 257 bank accounts, in addition to the seizure of assets worth $2.67 million. The targeted network focused on luring retirees in English-speaking countries through investment offers and romance scams.
In Romania, police arrested 11 suspects whom they said belonged to a group linked to a call center that used promises of high returns in stocks and cryptocurrencies to persuade victims to invest. Italian authorities also identified one suspect linked to a European money-laundering network that used shell companies, money-transfer services, and cash withdrawals to conceal the proceeds.
Extortion and Crime-as-a-Service
INTERPOL said some perpetrators contacted minors through social media, then built a relationship of trust and pressured them to share explicit images or videos. They subsequently threatened to distribute the material to the victim’s contacts unless a ransom was paid.
The networks did not limit themselves to carrying out all stages of the attack internally; some criminal syndicates were observed turning to external service providers, often through the dark web, to perform tasks such as money laundering and other operations necessary for the criminal campaign.
Why Does This Matter?
The operation shows that the operational infrastructure of online fraud has become distributed among entities that provide infrastructure, others that lure victims, and networks specializing in moving money. Therefore, arresting local perpetrators does not necessarily address the entire chain, making international cooperation and the tracking of accounts and intermediary services an essential part of the response.
Jackal IV places these results within a series of internationally coordinated operations. African authorities announced that, between December 8 and January 30, they had arrested 651 suspects in another operation called Red Card 2.0, which covered 16 countries. In July, INTERPOL said that Operation First Light 2026 resulted in the arrest of 5,811 suspects and the seizure of illicit assets worth $293 million, with investigators from 97 countries participating. The material does not clarify whether these operations were organizationally linked to a single network or the value of assets seized by Jackal IV beyond the cases mentioned.