Interpol's Operation Jackal IV: 58 arrests target West African fraud networks and Black Axe

Key points

• Interpol's Operation Jackal IV ran from November 2025 to June 2026 across 22 countries, identifying 263 suspects and arresting 58 people linked to West African organised crime.
• South African police arrested 39 suspects, froze 257 bank accounts and seized $2.67 million from a syndicate scamming retirees in English-speaking countries.
• Argentinian officers made 17 arrests and tied 196 suspects to a Crime-as-a-Service network selling web domains and money-laundering services.
• Romanian police arrested 11 suspects tied to a call centre running fake stock and cryptocurrency investment scams.
• A separate Interpol action, Operation Red Card 2.0, produced 651 arrests across 16 African countries between 8 December and 30 January.

Police in 22 countries have arrested 58 people and identified another 263 suspects tied to West African cybercrime networks, Interpol said this week. Jackal IV ran from November 2025 to June 2026 and zeroed in on the Black Axe syndicate, a Nigerian-origin group long tracked by law enforcement for online fraud and violent crime.

The crimes at the heart of the case are the ones ordinary people meet in their inboxes and dating apps: romance scams that slowly extract money over months, fake investment platforms, and business email compromise, where criminals impersonate a supplier or executive to divert a wire transfer.

Who was arrested and where?

The biggest single haul came in South Africa. Officers there arrested 39 people, blocked 257 bank accounts and seized $2.67 million from a group that targeted retirees in English-speaking countries with romance and investment scams.

Argentina came next. Local police made 17 arrests and connected 196 further suspects to what Interpol describes as a Crime-as-a-Service operation, meaning a criminal business that sells tools and services (web domains and money-laundering help) to other criminals.

Romanian investigators arrested 11 people running a call centre that lured victims into fake high-return investments in stocks and cryptocurrency. Italian authorities identified one suspect tied to a money-laundering ring that moved cash across Europe through shell companies and cash withdrawals.

What is Black Axe and why does it keep coming up?

Black Axe is a Nigerian-origin criminal fraternity that has evolved from campus violence in the 1970s into a globally distributed fraud network. Vendors and agencies tracking African organised crime consistently link the group to romance scams, business email compromise and sextortion of minors on social media. We first covered the group on 25 August 2026, and the pattern since hasn't shifted much.

"Offenders typically contact minors via social media, build trust and coerce them into sharing explicit images or videos," Interpol said in its statement. "They then threaten to distribute this material to the victim's contacts unless a ransom is paid."

Interpol also flagged something CTI analysts have noted for a while: these groups now procure services from outside providers on the dark web, outsourcing laundering the way a legitimate business outsources payroll. That makes attribution messier, since the same laundering pipe may serve several unrelated fraud crews.

What should ordinary people watch for?

Be wary of anyone you've only met online who steers the conversation toward money or an "opportunity" a contact is running. Investment platforms promising guaranteed returns are almost always fake. If a message threatens to share intimate images unless you pay, stop paying, keep the evidence and contact police: paying rarely ends the extortion.

Jackal IV isn't the only recent sweep. Between 8 December and 30 January, Interpol's Operation Red Card 2.0 produced 651 arrests across 16 African countries. In July, Operation First Light 2026 pulled in 5,811 suspects and $293 million in seized assets across 97 countries, identifying more than 142,000 victims of the same categories of fraud.