Africa faces growing cybercrime crisis as China linked syndicates expand operations

New Delhi, Dec 5 Africa is facing a fast-growing cybercrime crisis, with Nigeria emerging as one of the main centres of these illegal activities, a report has said.

Major raids carried out in Nigeria in late 2024 and early 2025 revealed the scale of organised digital fraud across the continent, according to Capital News report.

Nearly 1,000 people were arrested in Lagos and Abuja, including 177 Chinese nationals. Investigators found that many of the facilities operated like professional companies, equipped with rows of computers, thousands of SIM cards and training rooms where recruits were coached in phishing, online scams and cryptocurrency fraud.

These discoveries showed that cybercrime in Africa is no longer driven only by local actors, as per the report.

Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has promised to dismantle these networks, but the size and organisation of the operations suggest deep cooperation between foreign crime syndicates and local partners.

Many of these foreign groups are believed to have moved their activities to Africa after increased policing in Southeast Asia made it harder for them to operate there.

Similar incidents have been reported across the continent. In 2024, Zambia broke up a major fraud network and arrested 77 people, including 22 Chinese nationals.

Several were sentenced to up to 11 years in prison -- one of Africa’s strongest legal actions against cybercriminals.

Around the same time, Angola arrested hundreds of people linked to online gambling and digital fraud, the report said.

Namibia also exposed a large cryptocurrency scam involving 14 suspects, nine of whom were Chinese nationals.

As countries like Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar tightened their enforcement, many syndicates moved their operations to Africa. UNODC warned that these networks were spreading “like a cancer”.

Interpol’s Africa Cyberthreat Assessment Report 2025 added that these groups are becoming more dangerous because they now use advanced technologies such as AI-generated deepfakes, sophisticated malware and encrypted underground banking systems.

This makes them powerful cyber-threat actors capable of targeting critical infrastructure and threatening national security.

The geopolitical situation adds another layer of complexity. China publicly rejects cybercrime, but experts note that enforcement inside the country is often uneven.

Smaller groups may be shut down, while larger, organised networks find ways to shift operations overseas.

Many African countries also depend heavily on Chinese loans and infrastructure projects, which can make it difficult to pursue aggressive legal action when Chinese nationals are involved. This creates a gap that criminal networks can exploit.

There is no solid proof that any government is directly supporting these networks. However, weak oversight of digital transactions, illegal money transfer systems and gaps in financial regulation allow organised crime groups to survive, regroup and expand quickly.

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