Online: privacy, image, data and scams — Cameroon

Data protection

Data protection rests on Law No. 2024/017 of 23 December 2024 on the protection of personal data (loi relative à la protection des données à caractère personnel), which came into force on 23 June 2026 after an 18-month period for companies and public bodies to comply; it creates the Autorité de protection des données à caractère personnel (APDP, Personal Data Protection Authority), an independent public body. Law No. 2010/012 on cybersecurity and cybercrime (loi relative à la cybersécurité et à la cybercriminalité), applied by the Agence nationale des technologies de l'information et de la communication (ANTIC, national agency for information and communication technologies), continues to cover online offences. The texts take up the principles of the European model: a specific purpose (finalité), proportionality (proportionnalité), data security and the rights of access (droit d'accès) and rectification. The rights recognised are information, access, rectification and objection (opposition); erasure (effacement) is provided for by the most recent texts. Processing must be declared (déclaration) or authorised in advance (autorisation préalable), depending on its nature, and transfers abroad are regulated and often subject to the authority's authorisation. Abuses involving advertising text messages, telecommunications and mobile money also fall to the telecommunications regulator. Loan apps that use access to the phone's contacts to put pressure on borrowers are a practice targeted by the authorities of the region. Cameroon signed the African Union Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection (Malabo Convention) on 12 August 2021 but has not ratified it. As throughout the region, the difficulty lies in effectiveness: the authorities often lack resources, and companies' awareness remains low. The authorities systematically ask for evidence: screenshots, dates and copies of letters.

British and Irish nationals living in Cameroon, and British-Cameroonian couples, deal with two systems depending on who holds their data. Against Cameroonian bodies — mobile operators, mobile money services, banks, employers, loan apps — Cameroonian law applies — since 23 June 2026 Law No. 2024/017, enforced by the APDP — and, for abuses by text message or mobile money, the telecommunications regulator is also competent. Against organisations established in the UK — a British bank, the NHS, HMRC, an employer, online services — the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 continue to apply whatever your country of residence, as does the GDPR for organisations in Ireland and the rest of the EU, and both also apply to services outside the UK or the EU that target people there: the reply to an access request is due within one month and is normally free, and a complaint to the ICO (the Information Commissioner's Office) or to Ireland's Data Protection Commission costs nothing. That route is often the faster one. For British companies, charities, churches and universities with partners in Cameroon, the consequence runs the other way: Cameroon is covered neither by UK adequacy regulations nor by an EU adequacy decision, so transfers of personal data from the UK need appropriate safeguards — usually the International Data Transfer Agreement or the UK Addendum to the EU standard contractual clauses — and transfers from Ireland the standard contractual clauses (article 46 of the GDPR); Cameroonian law may in turn make transfers abroad subject to authorisation.

The second point concerns what is on the phone. In Cameroonian prosecutions under article 347-1 of the Code pénal (Penal Code), which punishes same-sex relations, messages and photos have been the main source of evidence and have served as the basis for convictions; for anyone with such content on a phone, digital caution — screen lock, encryption, nothing passed on through third parties — is a safety measure. The FCDO's travel advice for Cameroon likewise notes that same-sex sexual acts are illegal there and that same-sex partners have been arrested and prosecuted. Intimate images shared against the will of the person shown are also a tool of blackmail (sextortion): never pay, keep the evidence and report it — in Cameroon to the police or the gendarmerie, with a report to the ANTIC; in the UK to the police, since sharing an intimate image without consent is an offence throughout the UK (in England and Wales under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 as amended by the Online Safety Act 2023), and in Ireland under Coco's Law of 2020. The Revenge Porn Helpline helps adults in the UK to have images removed from platforms. Cameroonians who live or study in the UK have all the rights of the UK GDPR towards UK organisations, whatever their nationality. And families in the UK who send mobile money to relatives in Cameroon, or set up a phone for them, help most with simple rules: never pass on a code, never let a loan app access the contacts, keep confirmation messages and screenshots.

Key points

In practice

• Send a written access request to the organisation holding your data, citing the Cameroonian law and enclosing a copy of an identity document; keep the date and a copy of the letter.
• If it refuses or does not reply, refer the matter to the APDP, the authority created by Law No. 2024/017; for text messages or mobile money, also to the telecommunications regulator.
• For a service established or represented in the UK or the EU, rely on the UK GDPR or the GDPR at the same time — often the faster route — and, without a reply within a month, complain to the ICO or to the Data Protection Commission.
• Give loan apps no access to contacts, photos or location; if an app puts pressure on you through your contacts, keep screenshots and inform the authorities.
• Before travelling to Cameroon, check your phone: screen lock, encryption, backups; do not pass sensitive content on through third parties.
• If an intimate image is shared or used for blackmail: do not pay, keep the evidence, ask the platform to remove it and report it — in Cameroon to the police or the gendarmerie, in the UK to the police, with the Revenge Porn Helpline's help for removal.
• British organisations that send personal data to Cameroon put the International Data Transfer Agreement or the UK Addendum in place and check whether Cameroonian law requires a declaration or an authorisation.

Cost and coverage

Procedures before the Cameroonian authorities are free; costs arise at most for copies, translations and, in court proceedings, a lawyer. In the UK, an access request is normally free and a complaint to the ICO costs nothing, including for people who live abroad; the same applies to the Data Protection Commission in Ireland. Compensation for a breach of the UK GDPR is claimed in the civil courts, with a lawyer and a risk of costs.

Where to go

• APDP (Personal Data Protection Authority): application of Law No. 2024/017 since 23 June 2026; ANTIC: Law No. 2010/012 on cybersecurity, reports and warnings.
• Telecommunications regulator: abuses involving text messages, telecommunications and mobile money.
• Consumer associations and cliniques juridiques (law clinics): support.
• Police and gendarmerie: complaints of blackmail or of images being shared.
• In the UK: the ICO (ico.org.uk), the police and the Revenge Porn Helpline; in Ireland: the Data Protection Commission and An Garda Síochána; British High Commission in Yaoundé if you are arrested in Cameroon; Irish citizens abroad: Department of Foreign Affairs.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Services du Premier ministre — official government website — laws and regulations of Cameroon, including Law No. 2010/012 on cybersecurity and cybercrime (French version)
• ANTIC — national ICT agency: application of Law No. 2010/012, warnings and advice
• ICO — make a complaint — UK regulator

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Romance scams

In Cameroon most fraud runs through argent mobile (mobile money), ahead of bank transfers: the only really effective remedy is to ask the operator, within the hour, to block or cancel the transfer before the money is withdrawn; complaints go to the police or the gendarmerie, and the ANTIC (the national information and communication technology agency) receives reports, including on the free number 8202. The FCDO warns that advance fee scams are common in Cameroon; money sent from a UK account is reported to Report Fraud and to the UK bank at once.

Reports are received by the Agence nationale des technologies de l'information et de la communication (ANTIC, national agency for information and communication technologies) — through the reporting form of its CIRT (Computer Incident Response Team), by email to alerts@antic.cm or on the free number 8202 — and by specialised judicial units. A complaint (plainte) is made at a commissariat (police station) or a brigade de gendarmerie, which refers it to the specialised unit, the Service national de lutte contre la cybercriminalité (national service for combating cybercrime). The decisive lever, however, is not the police but the mobile operator: a cancellation (annulation) or blocking (blocage) procedure can be started with the operator as long as the money has not yet been withdrawn. Mobile money is the dominant channel for fraud, ahead of bank transfers, and the text messages confirming a transfer are the essential evidence: they carry the references the investigators need. Reporting even a small amount helps others, since the same numbers come up from one victim to the next, and a number reported to the operator can be deactivated. Money that has gone into cryptocurrency is in practice lost. In sextortion (blackmail with intimate images or videos) the rule is never to pay: the blackmail does not stop after a first payment. Making a complaint is free, and calling the operator is generally free from its own network. These rules and services are national: they apply in the English-speaking regions as in the rest of the country.

The FCDO's travel advice for Cameroon warns that advance fee scams are common there, and that criminals use child adoption, offered through websites or emails, to obtain large sums before their victims suspect anything. For British and Irish nationals living in Cameroon, and for English-speaking Cameroonians who use mobile money every day, the first rule is to protect a mobile money account like a bank account: never give the PIN or a code received by text message, even to someone who claims to be calling from the operator. Anyone who has sent money to a wrong number or to a fraudster calls the operator's customer service at once — the useful window is counted in minutes, not days — and deletes no confirmation message; then comes the complaint at the commissariat or the gendarmerie, and the report to the ANTIC. The British High Commission in Yaoundé can help when a scam leaves someone without a passport or without money — an emergency travel document, contact with family or friends who can send money —, but it cannot recover lost money or intervene with the Cameroonian authorities. Blackmail with images or chats suggesting a same-sex relationship is especially dangerous: article 347-1 of the Code pénal (Penal Code) punishes such relations, prosecutions are regular and have relied on messages and photos, and blackmailers exploit that fear — anyone concerned should take confidential advice from a lawyer before taking any step.

For Cameroonians in the UK and for British-Cameroonian families, many scams play on the link between the two countries: a message from a supposed relative with a 'new number' who urgently needs money; an acquaintance asking for a mobile money transfer for a hospital stay, a funeral or a fee; intermediaries promising a UK visa, a university place or a job in exchange for money. UK visas are decided only by UK Visas and Immigration under the published rules, applications are made through GOV.UK, and nobody can guarantee one for a payment; a student visa requires a Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies from a university or college licensed as a sponsor, and a Skilled Worker visa a job offer from an employer licensed by the Home Office, whose register of licensed sponsors is public. From the UK, people also meet romance scammers: a contact from a dating app or a social network who builds trust over weeks, then asks for money for customs, a ticket, a hospital or a cryptocurrency 'investment'. What has reached a Cameroonian mobile money account can be stopped only by the operator in Cameroon, which is why a relative on the spot should call it at once.

Key points

In practice

• Call the mobile money operator immediately: as long as the recipient has not withdrawn the funds, cancellation is sometimes possible.
• Keep all the transaction text messages — they carry the references needed for the investigation — as well as screenshots of chats, profiles and phone numbers.
• Make a complaint even for a small amount, and report the incident to the ANTIC through the CIRT form, by email to alerts@antic.cm or on 8202.
• Report the fraudster's number to the operator: it can be deactivated, which protects the next victims.
• If a relative or a friend asks for money by message, call back on the old, known number and check the voice before sending anything.
• Faced with blackmail using intimate images, do not pay, stop replying, keep the evidence and report it; anyone who could face prosecution in Cameroon because of the images themselves should first take confidential advice from a lawyer.
• From the UK: report to Report Fraud (Police Scotland in Scotland) and ask your bank at once to try to recall the payment; before any 'investment', check the FCA register and warning list; for a visa, use only GOV.UK and never pay an intermediary who promises a result.

Cost and coverage

In Cameroon a complaint is free, calling the operator is generally free from its own network, and the ANTIC's number 8202 is free. A civil action against a fraudster requires a lawyer and has uncertain prospects. In the UK, Report Fraud, the police and the Financial Ombudsman Service are free, as is the advice of Citizens Advice. Beware of 'recovery' services that promise, against an advance fee, to get lost money back: they are almost always a second scam.

Where to go

• Customer service of the mobile money operator: blocking, cancellation, reporting the number.
• Commissariat or brigade de gendarmerie; Service national de lutte contre la cybercriminalité.
• ANTIC: CIRT reporting form, alerts@antic.cm, number 8202; consumer and digital protection associations.
• eConsumer.gov: international portal for reporting fraud committed from abroad.
• British High Commission in Yaoundé: lost passports and emergencies; in the UK, Report Fraud, Police Scotland, the Financial Ombudsman Service and the FCA register; in Ireland, An Garda Síochána; Irish citizens abroad: Department of Foreign Affairs.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• ANTIC — report an incident (CIRT) — reporting form of the national ICT agency; alerts@antic.cm, free number 8202
• ANTIC — current warnings and prevention advice
• GOV.UK — Cameroon travel advice: safety and security — FCDO warning on advance fee scams, including adoption scams
• Report Fraud (UK) — reporting fraud involving UK accounts

The general article: Romance scams · Compare with another country