Ongoing FBI efforts have led to the arrest of 28 alleged scammers and the seizure of millions of dollars in stolen funds. The FBI says it carried out the operation in Africa last week as part of the continuing Operation Blackout, which aims to shut down scam networks that target U.S. citizens.
“Thanks to brilliant partnership with the Department of Justice and the private sector, across multiple African countries, we arrested dozens of criminal actors, seized hundreds of devices, identified at least $11 million in potentially freezable funds, and truly saved lives,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “This is what happens when law enforcement executes with precision across the interagency. We are demolishing Scam Centers across the globe and crushing a criminal industry preying on American citizens.”
The FBI expects to repatriate more than 120 trafficked workers.
The FBI identified $11 million in potentially freezable funds, but it’s unclear whether authorities can seize the money or return any of it to victims.
The operation drew in members of the U.S. Department of Justice, the Scam Center Strike Force under the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, the FBI, the U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Homeland Security Investigations, and others. Law enforcement agencies from Australia, Canada, Ghana, India, New Zealand, and Nigeria joined in, along with INTERPOL and additional cybercrime units.
Although the operation was based in London, officers made the arrests in Ghana and Nigeria.
“Transnational fraud demands a transnational response,” said U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro for the District of Columbia, founder of the Scam Center Strike Force. “I have partnered with the NCA and the Crown Prosecutor for England and Wales to push forward cases on both sides of the Atlantic; criminals are not hindered by borders and neither are we. We will deploy our team wherever in the world transnational criminals target innocent victims.”
The operation also removed millions of Facebook and Instagram accounts tied to alleged scams. Authorities coordinated those efforts with Meta, the platforms’ parent company.
“Scams are a global threat that demand a global response,” said Chris Sonderby, vice president and deputy general counsel for Meta, in a press release. “Last week, working with the U.K. National Crime Agency, the FBI, DOJ and the Homeland Security Task Force, we took the fight to scam centers across West Africa.
“As part of the disruption, we removed more than 3.7 million accounts, Pages and Groups targeting people in the U.S., U.K., and beyond, and shared leads on over 30 suspected scam centers resulting in dozens of arrests, the rescue of trafficking victims and cryptocurrency seizures.”
Operation Blackout has led to the arrests of hundreds of alleged scammers and the seizure of roughly $17 billion since it began, Patel said in a social media post.
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