Iraq arrests 200+ suspects in largest regional cyber crackdown
Shafaq News- Baghdad
Iraqi authorities dismantled cybercrime networks operating across Asia and Africa and arrested 201 suspects during Operation Code crackdown, a five-month campaign coordinated with 13 Arab countries, the Interior Ministry announced on Monday.
Hassan Hadi Latheeth, head of the Cybersecurity and Electronic Crimes Team for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), described the campaign as the region’s largest cyber security operation, carried out in coordination with Interpol between October 2025 and February 2026.
The operation targeted malicious digital infrastructure, phishing attacks, malware threats, and electronic financial fraud networks, he explained. Authorities identified and protected 3,867 cybercrime victims, and detected382 additional suspects still at large. Officials also seized 53 servers allegedly used to launch cyberattacks, and participating countries exchanged nearly 8,000 intelligence reports and critical data throughout the operation.
Iraq is witnessing a surge in digital investment scams fueled by high youth unemployment and sophisticated fraud networks operating through WhatsApp and Telegram. These schemes —mirroring global patterns flagged by Interpol— have cost victims hundreds of millions of dinars and pushed cyber-fraud complaints past 4,000 in 2024, twice the previous year.
Read more: Iraq's online scam trap: The financial Price for a digital dice
