INTERPOL Operation Jackal IV has delivered 58 arrests and identified 263 suspects across 22 countries in an eight-month crackdown targeting West African organised crime groups, including Black Axe. The operation ran from November 2025 to June 2026 and focused on cyber-enabled financial crime, money laundering and the people helping criminal networks move and hide their…
Artificial intelligence is no longer just making cybercrime more sophisticated in Africa. It is changing how cheaply and quickly criminals can operate. A new INTERPOL African Cyberthreat Assessment Report says AI is now linked to 55% of reported cybercrime across Africa, while reported financial losses reached about $484 million in 2025, up sharply from $192…
US prosecutor Erin West and cybersecurity researcher Paul Raffile have travelled to Nigeria to investigate sextortion networks accused of targeting American teenagers, following the digital trail from a fake teenage profile to suspected scammers near Lagos. Their investigation, released in a documentary on July 29, also explored the controversial “Yahoo Plus” ritual practices associated with…
African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore has intensified his criticism of what he describes as the growing criminalisation of online expression, celebrating the release of a TikToker accused of circulating an AI-generated audio impersonating President Bola Tinubu while offering legal support to embattled content creator DJ Chicken. According to Sowore, Ifechukwu Dennis, who…
Human rights activist and former presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore has formally opened his defence in the ongoing cybercrime and criminal defamation case instituted against him over social media posts concerning President Bola Tinubu. The trial resumed before Justice Mohammed Umar of the Federal High Court in Abuja, where the prosecution informed the court that Sowore…
A Federal High Court in Abuja has granted Omoyele Sowore, publisher of Sahara Reporters and presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), bail in the sum of ₦200 million in his ongoing cybercrime trial. The ruling comes weeks after the activist’s earlier bail was revoked over his failure to appear in court on a…
