The international law enforcement operation is the latest to tackle cybercrime on the continent.

Europol and eight other agencies launched the bust aimed at a network that targeted people trying to regain access to lost or stolen phones.

Hackers compromised roughly 8,000 of those accounts with tools that a cybercrime group known as W3LL sold through its underground marketplace.

The cybercrime and fraud operations, including fraudulent art sales, were linked to financial losses of more than $40 million.

The unattributed activity employs a sophisticated approach to steal data and monitor targets, researchers say.

Digital scams looking to steal data and dollars from World Cup fans are in full force as the tournament enters week two.

Using two malware variants, unknown operators managed to compile stolen card data potentially worth more than $3 million, researchers said.

The group is believed to have hit more than 50,000 victims.

The operation — with help from Palo Alto Networks' Unit 42 as well as cybersecurity firm Group-IB — marks the second action against the group.

The illicit carding market stands at $1.4 billion, researchers say, compared to $1.9 billion last year.