An international law-enforcement operation involving agencies from 22 countries identified 263 suspects and arrested dozens of people tied to cybercrime networks coordinated by African crime groups, according to BleepingComputer. The operation, named Operation Jackal IV, ran from November 2025 to June 2026 and targeted West African criminal networks, BleepingComputer reports. The effort also focused on Black Axe, which the outlet describes as a cybercrime syndicate associated with large-scale cyber-enabled financial fraud. The reported activity spans several common fraud channels: romance scams, cryptocurrency and investment scams, and business email compromise. BleepingComputer also says Black Axe and similar criminal rings have at times been linked to violent crimes, though the reported operation centered on disrupting cybercrime networks and their supporting infrastructure. The largest country-specific figures in the report came from Argentina and South Africa. Argentinian law officers made 17 arrests and linked 196 suspects to what BleepingComputer describes as a major crime-as-a-service network that supplied web domains and money-laundering support to West African organized crime groups. In South Africa, authorities arrested 39 people, blocked 257 bank accounts and seized $2.67 million from a criminal syndicate that allegedly targeted retirees in English-speaking countries through investment and romance scams, according to the report. Romanian police arrested another 11 suspects tied to a call-center group that allegedly used promises of high returns in stocks or cryptocurrencies to lure victims into investment scams. Italian authorities identified one suspect linked to a pan-European money-laundering network that allegedly moved funds through shell companies, remittance services and cash withdrawals, BleepingComputer reports. The account also says INTERPOL described criminal groups outsourcing functions such as money laundering through crime-as-a-service providers, often via the dark web. One important caveat: the arrest totals in the provided report are not fully clear. BleepingComputer reports 58 arrests overall, but the country-level figures cited in the same account — 17 in Argentina, 39 in South Africa and 11 in Romania — do not reconcile to that total. The broader direction of the story is clear, but the exact arrest count needs confirmation from primary law-enforcement releases. Who benefits: Potential victims, banks and platforms benefit when laundering channels, accounts and supporting services are disrupted. Law-enforcement agencies also gain intelligence from identified suspects and linked networks. Who's exposed: Crime groups relying on outsourced domains, call centers and money-laundering services face higher operational risk when police target the service providers behind scams. The report specifically points to West African organized crime groups and Black Axe-linked activity.