More than 260 suspects were arrested and 1,235 electronic devices – including USB drives and SIM cards – seized in a sprawling operation by international law enforcement into romance scams and sextortion rings operating in multiple countries in Africa.

According to Interpol, authorities in 14 African countries led the crackdown on these “scam syndicates,” a growing international threat that started in Southeast Asia by Chinese organized crime gangs and has since spilled out across the globe, not only in Africa, but also in North and South America, and other parts of the world.

“Cybercrime units across Africa are reporting a sharp rise in digital-enabled crimes such as sextortion and romance scams,” Cyril Gout, acting executive director of police services at Interpol, said in a statement. “The growth of online platforms has opened new opportunities for criminal networks to exploit victims, causing both financial loss and psychological harm.”

The arrests and device seizures were part of Operation Condor 3.0, which was run between late July and mid-August. Authorities also were able to identify IP addresses, digital signatures, domains, and social media profiles linked to some members involved with the scam syndicates, which helped lead to the arrest and seizures.

In addition, they were able to take down 81 cybercrime infrastructures across the continent, according to Interpol. Authorities identified 1,463 scam victims, who they said lost an estimated $2.8 million.

“Cybercriminals behind romance scams and sextortion deliberately exploit some of the deepest human vulnerabilities, such as trust and emotional attachment,” Group-IB CEO Dmitry Volkov said in a statement. “They manipulate victims by taking advantage of their feelings and personal relationships, turning genuine emotions into tools of deception and coercion.”

Group-IB and Trend Micro assisted in Operation Condor 3.0, lending enhanced data sharing and operational capabilities.

A Growing Global Threat

Scams run to cheat people out of their money have been around seemingly forever, but social media and other modern tech tools has allowed criminal organizations to scale such operations. According to Interpol, those organizations are exploiting digital platforms – and social media in particular – to run their operations.

Many also are using fake job opportunities as part of human trafficking operations to force people under the threat of extortion, torture, and death to participate in the online scams that can include investment cons, gambling schemes, and other crimes and which increasingly are run in large compounds in remote areas.

The United Nations has estimated that hundreds of thousands of people have been enslaved throughout Southeast Asia to work in online scam mills that generate as much as $40 billion in profits.

More than 1,000 people were arrested in a law enforcement crackdown in Cambodia a month later on such scam operations in that country.

Cybercrime Skyrockets in Africa

In June, Interpol wrote about the global expansion of such operations out of Southeast Asia into the Americas – including the United States – Russia, and Africa, with Gout at the time saying that “The reach of online scam centers spans the globe and represents a dynamic and persistent global challenge. Tackling this rapidly globalizing threat requires a coordinated international response.”

In June, Interpol reported a sharp increase in cybercrime in Africa, noting that two-thirds of African countries that are members of Interpol that said cyber-related crimes counted for some or most of all crimes and that online scams, ransomware, business email compromise (BEC), and sextortion are the most reported cyberthreats.

A Lot of Victims, A Lot of Money

With Operation Condor 3.0, 68 people were arrested and 835 devices seized in Ghana. They identified 108 victims who lost $450,000, though $70,000 was recovered. The suspects used fake profiles, forged identities, and stolen images to deceive victims of the romance, in which bad actors will build an online relationship with a victim to the point where they convince the target to let go of money. In this case, they extracted payments through such schemes as fraudulent courier and customs shipment fees.

In the sextortion scams, the criminals secretly recorded intimate videos during explicit chats and used them for blackmail.

In Cote d’Ivoire, 24 people were arrested and 29 devices seized in connection with sextortion scams in which bad actors used fake online profiles to convince victims to share intimate images. There were 809 victims of these scams.

Eight people were arrested in Angola, with 28 people in the country and around the world falling victim to the schemes run on social media.

“Offenders used fraudulent documents to create fake identities, facilitating financial transactions and concealing their real identities while engaging victims,” Interpol said.