Hundreds of online romance scam arrests across Africa

A CRACKDOWN on cybercrime coordinated by Interpol has led to the arrests across 14 African countries of 260 people suspected in online romance and extortion scams, the organisation has announced.

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The operation took place in July and August and focused on scams in which perpetrators build online romantic relationships to extract money from targets or blackmail them with explicit images, Interpol said. Altogether, the scams targeted more than 1,400 victims who lost nearly US$ 2.8 million (£2bn), the international police organisation said.