Shafaq News-Baghdad
Iraqi authoritiesdismantled cybercrime networks operating across Asia and Africa and arrested201 suspects during Operation Code crackdown, a five-month campaign coordinated with 13 Arab countries, the InteriorMinistry announced on Monday.
Hassan HadiLatheeth, head of the Cybersecurity and Electronic Crimes Team for the MiddleEast and North Africa (MENA), described the campaign as the region’s largestcyber security operation, carried out in coordination with Interpol betweenOctober 2025 and February 2026.
The operationtargeted malicious digital infrastructure, phishing attacks, malware threats,and electronic financial fraud networks, he explained. Authorities identifiedand protected 3,867 cybercrime victims, and detected382 additional suspects still at large. Officialsalso seized 53 servers allegedly used to launch cyberattacks, and participatingcountries exchanged nearly 8,000 intelligence reports and critical datathroughout the operation.
Iraq is witnessing a surge in digital investment scamsfueled by high youth unemployment and sophisticated fraud networks operating throughWhatsApp and Telegram. These schemes —mirroring global patterns flagged byInterpol— have cost victims hundreds of millions of dinars and pushedcyber-fraud complaints past 4,000 in 2024, twice the previous year.
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