A significant crackdown on cybercrime in the Middle East and North Africa region has resulted in the arrest of 201 individuals and the identification of 382 additional suspects. This extensive operation, known as Operation Ramz, was conducted across 13 countries and led to the seizure of 53 servers and the identification of 3,867 victims. Interpol announced that the operation spanned several months, from October 2025 to February 2026, with participation from law enforcement agencies in Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Tunisia, and the UAE.
The effort was bolstered by collaborations with private sector partners such as Group-IB, Kaspersky, the Shadowserver Foundation, Team Cymru, and TrendAI. These partners played a crucial role in tracking illegal activities and identifying malicious infrastructures. In Algeria, authorities dismantled a phishing-as-a-service operation, leading to one arrest and the seizure of a server and malicious software. Jordanian police uncovered a financial fraud scheme involving human trafficking, arresting two suspects while discovering that 15 individuals were coerced into executing the scams.
Moroccan authorities arrested three people and confiscated devices used in phishing, while in Oman, a vulnerable server containing sensitive data was secured. In Qatar, compromised devices spreading malware were identified and secured, with owners being notified of the breach. Team Cymru’s CEO, Joe Sander, highlighted the importance of cross-border cooperation in tackling cybercrime, emphasizing that such crimes know no borders and require a unified international response.