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Group-IB, a leading creator of cybersecurity technologies to investigate, prevent, and fight digital crime, announced today that it has contributed important data and intelligence to INTERPOL (interpol.int), as part of an ongoing initiative code named “Operation Contender 2.0”. The international operation, led by INTERPOL, resulted in the arrest of two individuals by the Nigerian Police Force on 27 April 2024, who had orchestrated a romance scam that caused substantial financial losses for a victim in Finland.
Initiated in 2021 in response to intelligence regarding the activities of cybercriminal syndicates in Africa, particularly in West Africa, Contender 2.0 is an ongoing operation coordinated by INTERPOL’s African Joint Operation against Cybercrime (AFJOC). This initiative aims to combat a broad spectrum of cyber threats, including business email compromise schemes, romance scams, as well as financial grooming crimes, which often involve cryptocurrencies or other digital assets.
As an INTERPOL Gateway Partner, Group-IB provided actionable intelligence to help the investigation, which enabled the law enforcement agencies to focus their efforts in identifying and apprehending the cybercriminals behind the scams, and continues to provide substantial support for Operation Contender 2.0.
As part of the same operation, a suspect and five other individuals were arrested by the Côte d’Ivoire authorities on charges relating to a large-scale phishing scam that targeted Swiss citizens. The scam caused over USD 1.4 million in financial losses and involved fraudsters posing as buyers on small advertising websites using QR codes to lead victims to fake payment sites, where victims unknowingly entered personal information. The scammers also impersonated customer service agents over the phone. Swiss authorities received over 260 reports of the scam from August 2023 to April 2024, leading to an investigation that traced the suspects to Côte d’Ivoire.
“Leveraging the increased reliance on technology in every aspect of our daily lives, cybercriminals are employing a range of techniques to steal data and execute fraudulent activities. These recent successful collaborations, under the umbrella of Operation Contender 2.0, demonstrate the importance of continued international cooperation in combating cybercrime and bringing perpetrators to justice.”
Neal Jetton - Director of the Cybercrime Directorate
“These cybercriminals prey on the emotions of their victims, exploiting their motivations and aspirations, and then robbing them of their hard-earned money. We are glad to have contributed to the arrest and the shutting down of this scam. Through our ongoing partnership with INTERPOL, we will continue to provide critical information to aid in the investigations and arrests of such cybercriminals and syndicates and work together to build a cyberspace for everyone.”
Dmitry Volkov - CEO of Group-IB
About Group-IB
Founded in 2003 and headquartered in Singapore, Group-IB (group-ib.com) is a leading creator of cybersecurity technologies to investigate, prevent, and fight digital crime. Combating cybercrime is in the company’s DNA, shaping its technological capabilities to defend businesses, citizens, and support law enforcement operations.
Group-IB’s Digital Crime Resistance Centers (DCRCs) are located in the Middle East, Europe, Central Asia, and Asia-Pacific to help critically analyze and promptly mitigate regional and country-specific threats. These mission-critical units help Group-IB strengthen its contribution to global cybercrime prevention and continually expand its threat-hunting capabilities.
Group-IB’s decentralized and autonomous operational structure helps it offer tailored, comprehensive support services with a high level of expertise. We map and mitigate adversaries’ tactics in each region, delivering customized cybersecurity solutions tailored to risk profiles and requirements of various industries, including retail, healthcare, gambling, financial services, manufacturing, crypto, and more.
The company’s global security leaders work in synergy with some of the industry’s most advanced technologies to offer detection and response capabilities that eliminate cyber disruptions agilely.
Group-IB’s Unified Risk Platform (URP) underpins its conviction to build a secure and trusted cyber environment by utilizing intelligence-driven technology and agile expertise that completely detects and defends against all nuances of digital crime. The platform proactively protects organizations’ critical infrastructure from sophisticated attacks while continuously analyzing potentially dangerous behavior all over their network.
The comprehensive suite includes the world’s most trusted Threat Intelligence, The most complete Fraud Protection, AI-powered Digital Risk Protection, Multi-layered protection with Managed Extended Detection and Response (XDR), All-infrastructure Business Email Protection, and External Attack Surface Management.
Furthermore, Group-IB’s full-cycle incident response and investigation capabilities have consistently elevated industry standards. This includes the 77,000+ hours of cybersecurity incident response completed by our sector-leading DFIR Laboratory, more than 1,400 successful investigations completed by the High-Tech Crime Investigations Department, and round-the-clock efforts of CERT-GIB.
Time and again, its solutions and services have been revered by leading advisory and analyst agencies such as Aite Novarica, Gartner®, Forrester, Frost & Sullivan, KuppingerCole Analysts AG, and more.
Being an active partner in global investigations, Group-IB collaborates with international law enforcement organizations such as INTERPOL, EUROPOL and AFRIPOL to create a safer cyberspace. Group-IB is also a member of the Europol European Cybercrime Centre’s (EC3) Advisory Group on Internet Security, which was created to foster closer cooperation between Europol and its leading non-law enforcement partners.
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