Interpol dismantles cyber fraud networks targeting 4,000 victims in 13 Arab states

Dubai: Interpol announced on Monday that a large-scale cybercrime operation across the Middle East and North Africa led to identifying nearly 4,000 victims and hundreds of suspects linked to online fraud networks operating across 13 Arab countries.

The operation, codenamed “Rameses”, was carried out between October 2025 and February 2026 and aimed to dismantle cybercrime infrastructure and identify individuals involved in online fraud schemes that caused significant financial losses across the region, the international police organisation said in a statement.

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According to AFP, police forces involved in the operation identified around 3,867 victims, arrested 201 suspects and identified another 382 individuals believed to be connected to the cyber fraud activities. Authorities also seized approximately 50 servers during the operation.

In Jordan, authorities arrested around 15 individuals suspected of luring victims into investing through an illegal online trading platform that became inaccessible once funds had been deposited.

Interpol said investigators in Qatar uncovered compromised computers whose owners were unaware that their devices had been hijacked and used to distribute cyber threats.

Meanwhile, Moroccan authorities seized computers, smartphones and external hard drives containing banking information and phishing software allegedly used in online fraud operations.

The organisation said participating countries exchanged around 8,000 pieces of intelligence and operational information during the investigation, describing the cross-border cooperation as critical to the operation’s success.

In a report published in April 2025, the World Economic Forum estimated that cybercrime costs the global economy around $18 million per minute, or approximately $9.5 trillion annually.