The International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL) has arrested two suspects in Nigeria over separate cybercrime investigations, including an international investment fraud scheme linked to more than $2.4m in suspected criminal proceeds.
The arrests were disclosed in a statement on Operation Serengeti III, a multinational crackdown on cybercrime conducted across 21 countries between June 29 and August 31, 2026.
According to INTERPOL, one of the Nigerian investigations led to the arrest of a suspect allegedly operating a large-scale phishing and business email compromise scheme that harvested software credentials and collected approximately 2.1 million email addresses.
Investigators also recovered a luxury vehicle suspected to have been purchased with proceeds from criminal activities.
In a separate investigation, Nigerian authorities arrested another suspect over an international investment fraud scheme promoted through messaging applications.
INTERPOL said financial investigations uncovered the movement of more than $2.4m in suspected criminal proceeds, much of which was allegedly laundered through cryptocurrency transactions.
The organisation did not disclose the identities of the suspects or provide details of their expected arraignment.
The arrests formed part of Operation Serengeti III, which targeted cyber-enabled fraud, ransomware, business email compromise, online scams and digital extortion.
INTERPOL said the operation resulted in 1,462 arrests across participating countries, the dismantling of 10,909 malicious networks and the recovery of more than $105m in illicit funds.
The operation also identified 65,929 victims targeted by cybercriminal networks, while financial investigations linked the criminal activities uncovered to losses exceeding $385m.
INTERPOL’s Director of Cybercrime, Neal Jetton, said international cooperation remained critical to disrupting criminal networks that exploit digital technology to target victims across national borders.
He said the operation demonstrated the importance of coordinated law enforcement efforts in disrupting cybercrime networks, recovering criminal assets and protecting communities from digital threats.
