A joint international operation led by INTERPOL and AFRIPOL has resulted in the arrest of several suspects in Nigeria allegedly connected to a $562 million cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors in at least 17 countries.
The two-month enforcement action, dubbed Operation Catalyst, ran between July and September 2025 and targeted financial crimes associated with terrorism financing and money laundering across multiple African nations.
INTERPOL confirmed that the crackdown led to 83 arrests across six countries, including Nigeria, Kenya, and Angola, while over 160 persons of interest were identified. Authorities have traced illicit transactions worth approximately $260 million in both fiat and virtual currencies.
In Nigeria, 11 suspected terrorists, including alleged senior members of extremist organizations, were arrested as part of the same coordinated operation. Investigators discovered links between these individuals and a global crypto investment scam that presented itself as a legitimate trading platform but was ultimately tied to terrorism financing networks.
According to INTERPOL, the scheme operated across several African countries—among them Cameroon, Kenya, and Nigeria—and affected over 100,000 investors. The agency said multiple high-value crypto wallets connected to the operation are under forensic investigation, with transactions being analyzed for connections to terrorism-related funding.
In addition, a Red Notice has been issued for one of the alleged masterminds accused of defrauding investors of approximately $5 million through a complex system of wallets and crypto exchanges designed to obscure money trails.
So far, authorities have screened more than 15,000 individuals and entities and recovered about $600,000. INTERPOL noted that efforts are ongoing to trace and seize additional assets linked to both terrorism financing and financial fraud.
Valdecy Urquiza, INTERPOL’s Secretary General, described the operation as a “landmark in Africa’s cross-border collaboration against financial crime,” noting that it is the first time financial crime, cybercrime, and counterterrorism units across multiple countries have worked jointly to target terror financing channels.
Similarly, AFRIPOL’s Executive Director, Ambassador Jalel Chelba, highlighted the importance of inter-agency collaboration in tackling complex financial crimes, stating that unified action among African security agencies demonstrates the continent’s growing ability to combat evolving threats.
Operation Catalyst received analytical and cyber-intelligence support from several private-sector partners, including Binance, Moody’s, and Uppsala Security.
This development comes on the heels of Operation Serengeti 2.0, conducted between June and August 2025, which saw INTERPOL arrest 1,209 suspected cybercriminals and dismantle 11,432 malicious online infrastructures across Africa. That earlier effort recovered over $97.4 million linked to widespread online fraud.
