Fortinet, INTERPOL scale arrests to 1,200

Fortinet said on June 4 that its work with INTERPOL and the World Economic Forum’s Cybercrime Atlas has helped scale cybercrime arrests from 12 to about 1,200, a claim that points back to a series of African law-enforcement operations disclosed over the past 18 months. The company has framed that increase as evidence that private-sector threat intelligence is being used more directly in cross-border investigations. Public records from INTERPOL, Fortinet and the World Economic Forum show the larger arrest totals came from Operation Serengeti in 2024 and Operation Serengeti 2.0 in 2025. Those operations were run by INTERPOL and AFRIPOL, with support from private partners including Fortinet and the Cybercrime Atlas. ### Where does the “12 to 1,200” claim come from? Dark Reading reported on April 1 that INTERPOL cybercrime director Neal Jetton and Fortinet executive Derek Manky described public-private operations as having scaled “from 12 arrests to 1,200.” Jetton told the publication that INTERPOL “could not have done it” without intelligence from partners such as the Cybercrime Atlas, which is hosted by the World Economic Forum. (darkreading.com) Fortinet’s own public posts do not appear to spell out the “12” baseline in the material surfaced here, but they do tie the larger figure to named operations. Fortinet said on August 22, 2025 that Operation Serengeti 2.0 led to 1,209 arrests, nearly $100 million recovered and more than 11,000 malicious infrastructures dismantled across Africa. (darkreading.com) ### Which operations produced the larger arrest totals? INTERPOL said on November 26, 2024 that Operation Serengeti led to 1,006 arrests across 19 African countries and dismantled 134,089 malicious infrastructures and networks. The agency said the operation ran from September 2 to October 31, 2024 and targeted ransomware, business email compromise, digital extortion and online scams. (fortinet.com) INTERPOL said on August 22, 2025 that Operation Serengeti 2.0, conducted from June to August 2025, led to 1,209 arrests across 18 African countries and the United Kingdom, recovered $97.4 million and dismantled 11,432 malicious infrastructures. Fortinet said it was a key private-sector partner in that operation. (interpol.int) ### What is the Cybercrime Atlas, and where does Fortinet fit in? The World Economic Forum says the Cybercrime Atlas uses open-source research and a community of public- and private-sector participants to map cybercriminal ecosystems and support disruption efforts. The Forum’s 2025 impact report said the Atlas was a partner in Operations Serengeti and Serengeti 2.0 and had expanded its expert participation into Latin America and Asia Pacific. (interpol.int) Fortinet is listed by the World Economic Forum as a founding supporter of the Cybercrime Atlas. Fortinet said it has partnered with INTERPOL since 2015, became an official INTERPOL Gateway partner in 2018 and has contributed intelligence on infrastructure, cryptocurrency and financial-service links used by criminal groups. ### Was this only about one operation in Africa? (initiatives.weforum.org) The arrest growth claim is broader than a single case, but the public numbers behind it are concentrated in Africa-focused operations. The World Economic Forum said in November 2024 that INTERPOL arrests supported by collaborative Cybercrime Atlas research showed the value of public-private coordination, citing Operation Serengeti’s more than 1,000 arrests. (www3.weforum.org) Fortinet said in February 2026 that a separate INTERPOL-led effort, Operation Red Card 2.0, produced 651 arrests across 16 African countries between December 2025 and January 2026. That operation targeted online scams, mobile-money fraud and fraudulent loan applications, and Fortinet said Cybercrime Atlas-linked intelligence also supported that work. (weforum.org) ### What can be verified today, and what remains unclear? June 4 is the date Fortinet’s “12 to 1,200” line circulated more widely on social media, but the underlying numbers were already in the public domain through earlier reporting and official statements. The larger totals are verifiable through INTERPOL and Fortinet disclosures tied to Serengeti and Serengeti 2.0. (fortinet.com) The “12” starting point is less clearly documented in the official material reviewed here. Dark Reading attributed it to comments from Jetton and Manky, but neither the Fortinet blog posts nor the INTERPOL releases opened for this report specify which earlier operation or time period produced that baseline figure. (darkreading.com) February 19, 2026 is the latest dated milestone in the material reviewed here, when Fortinet published details of Operation Red Card 2.0 and said private-sector intelligence continued to feed INTERPOL-led action. Fortinet, INTERPOL and the World Economic Forum all maintain public pages tracking cybercrime collaboration, and those channels are the clearest places to watch for the next named operation or updated arrest totals. (fortinet.com) (darkreading.com)