Binance, the world’s leading blockchain ecosystem and cryptocurrency exchange is working with police across Africa to catch the criminals behind online scams. By showing investigators where money goes after a scam, Binance is helping to turn reports from victims into real arrests.
Scams often start with a simple message such as an investment offer that sounds too good to be true, a fake job or someone pretending to be a police officer. Once a victim pays, scammers move the money quickly from one account to another with the intention of the funds being impossible to find. Tracing these funds becomes increasingly difficult for law enforcement when money crosses borders or moves between multiple platforms and unfortunately many victims are unable to recover their losses.
This is where Binance plays an important role. Every crypto transaction creates a permanent record and Binance’s specialist investigators are trained to analyse these records to establish where funds came from and where they were sent. When authorities submit an official request through the appropriate legal channels these teams respond promptly, ensuring that investigations progress without delay. Advanced monitoring systems also review activity around the clock enabling suspicious transactions to be identified and stopped at an early stage.
Operation Red Card 2.0 demonstrates the impact of this approach. Between December 2025 and January 2026 Binance supported INTERPOL and AFRIPOL, the African Union’s mechanism for police cooperation in a coordinated operation across 16 African countries. Binance assisted investigators in tracing payments made through mobile money services to the base of a scam network, resulting in 651 arrests.
“Prevention is still the best defence but where police enforcement is in action, our role is to help investigators navigate how money moves through digital platforms, and keeping out any bad actors and keeping our users,” said Larry Cooke, Director at Binance Africa. “Combining expertise allows cases that may once have stalled to progress towards meaningful outcomes. Our goal is to be a trusted partner to law enforcement agencies across Africa.”
Prevention is equally central to Binance’s approach. Since 2023 Binance has reduced the amount of money linked to crime reaching its platform by 96 percent, reinforcing its commitment to providing a safe environment for every user.
Protecting the public also means helping people recognise scams before they fall victim to them. Binance Academy provides free, accessible lessons on how common scams work and how to avoid them with no account or registration required.
“There is a misconception that crypto allows criminals to remain hidden but the opposite is actually true,” Cooke said. “Because every transaction leaves a traceable record it helps investigators identify individuals who might otherwise go undetected. It is this transparency that protects the public when they use crypto or not.”
As digital payments gain momentum across Africa Binance remains committed to working alongside law enforcement and regulators to stay ahead of fraud. Its aim is to ensure that every person, whether a first-time crypto user or someone who has never owned digital assets is better protected from scams and the harm they cause to individuals and communities.
To learn how to identify and avoid scams, visit Binance Academy at www.binance.com/en/academy
