A coordinated worldwide operation led by INTERPOL and AFRIPOL has led to a number of arrests in Nigeria, together with suspects linked to an enormous cryptocurrency-based Ponzi scheme believed to have defrauded buyers throughout 17 international locations of over $562 million.
Whereas the names and nationalities of the arrested suspects weren’t disclosed, INTERPOL mentioned the two-month sweep (July–September 2025) dubbed Operation Catalyst, focused monetary crimes linked to terrorism financing and cash laundering throughout Africa.
INTERPOL described the crackdown as the primary of its variety, resulting in 83 arrests throughout six African nations, together with Nigeria, Kenya, and Angola, with authorities figuring out greater than 160 individuals of curiosity and tracing illicit funds price round $260 million in each fiat and digital currencies.
Nigerian arrests tied to terrorism and crypto fraud
In Nigeria, 11 suspected terrorists, together with alleged senior members of extremist teams, have been arrested as a part of the coordinated motion.
- The safety company mentioned investigators additionally uncovered hyperlinks between Nigerian contributors and a worldwide cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme that masqueraded as a professional buying and selling platform however was discovered to have connections to terrorist financing.
- In response to INTERPOL, the fraudulent scheme spanned a minimum of 17 international locations, together with Cameroon and Kenya, and affected over 100,000 victims.
“A number of high-value crypto wallets tied to the operation at the moment are below forensic investigation, with authorities tracing transactions suspected to have been funnelled into terrorism-related actions,” it said.
As well as, INTERPOL disclosed {that a} Crimson Discover has been issued for one of many scheme’s alleged masterminds, who’s accused of scamming victims of roughly $5 million by means of an elaborate community of crypto wallets and alternate platforms designed to obscure cash trails.
$600,000 seized, additional asset restoration underway
Throughout the six international locations, greater than 15,000 people and entities have been screened in the course of the operation, resulting in the seizure of roughly $600,000 to this point.
- INTERPOL mentioned investigations are ongoing to hint and get better further belongings linked to each terrorism financing and monetary fraud schemes.
- The company’s Secretary Normal, Valdecy Urquiza, described the hassle as a milestone in cross-border policing collaboration.
“Operation Catalyst is the primary time monetary crime, cybercrime, and counter-terrorism models from a number of African international locations have joined forces to focus on the financing of terrorism.
“By sharing intelligence and sources, we are able to extra successfully disrupt monetary flows that assist terrorist actions,” Urquiza mentioned.
AFRIPOL’s Government Director, Ambassador Jalel Chelba, additionally highlighted the worth of synergy amongst African legislation enforcement companies in combating refined monetary crimes.
“The operation exhibits that when African safety companies unite, they will provide a decisive and coordinated response to complicated and evolving safety threats,” Chelba famous.
Operation Catalyst was backed by information and cyber intelligence assist from private-sector companions, together with Binance, Moody’s, and Uppsala Safety.
What you need to know
Earlier in August, INTERPOL, in collaboration with authorities throughout Africa, had introduced the arrest of 1,209 suspected cybercriminals and dismantled 11,432 malicious on-line infrastructures in one of many largest crackdowns on cybercrime within the area.
- The operation, codenamed Serengeti 2.0, ran from June to August 2025 and led to the restoration of $97.4 million linked to on-line fraud focusing on almost 88,000 victims.
- The operation introduced collectively investigators from 18 African international locations and the UK to deal with high-impact cybercrimes, together with ransomware, enterprise electronic mail compromise (BEC), and on-line scams—threats highlighted in INTERPOL’s newest Africa Cyberthreat Evaluation Report.
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