The Department of Justice announced the largest-ever takedown of fraudulent social media accounts linked to West African scam centers, with dozens of arrests and hundreds of devices seized during the coordinated operation. According to the DOJ, the effort identified at least $11 million in potentially freezable funds and arrested dozens of criminal actors across multiple African countries. FBI Director Kash Patel stated that thanks to brilliant partnership with the Department of Justice and private sector, across multiple African countries, they arrested dozens of criminal actors, seized hundreds of devices, identified at least $11 million in potentially freezable funds, and truly saved lives. The operation resulted in 28 arrests in Ghana and Nigeria, with 19 people arrested in Sasaabi, near Accra, Ghana and nine more arrested in Nigeria, along with 303 electronic devices seized. Ghanaian authorities arrested 19 people in Sasaabi, near Accra, where investigators seized 303 electronic devices during searches of suspected scam operations, while Nigerian police arrested nine suspects during enforcement operations in Delta State, seizing six laptops, 35 mobile phones and 12 routers.
The operation brought together more than 20 law enforcement agencies from multiple countries, marking the first coordinated effort focused specifically on West Africa. The joint effort included 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, FBI, U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Department of the Treasury, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF), the UK's NCA, the Nigerian Joint Case Team on Cybercrimes, the Nigeria Police Force - National Cybercrime Center, Ghanaian Cyber Security Authority, and private sector partners. Additional participants included law enforcement agencies from Australia, Canada, Ghana, India, New Zealand, Nigeria, along with INTERPOL and additional cybercrime units. The U.K.'s National Crime Agency (NCA) hosted the operation that brought tech firms and authorities together to target networks targeting people in the U.S., U.K. and other countries. The UK National Crime Agency hosted the coordinated effort in London from October 6 to 9, bringing together international police units, cryptocurrency companies and technology firms.
Private-sector partners played a crucial role in identifying cryptocurrency-related fraud, with Coinbase identifying more than 65 active scam victims and preventing more than $415,000 in potential losses. Crypto exchanges Binance and Coinbase participated alongside blockchain analytics firms Chainalysis, Elliptic and TRM Labs in the operation. TRM Labs specifically exposed a large-scale peer-to-peer laundering network. During the London operation, investigators traced illicit financial activity and supported efforts to freeze assets connected to scam networks while passing information to law enforcement in real time. The investigative process connected blockchain transfers with evidence from fake profiles, messaging accounts and websites, identifying fraudulent cryptocurrency investments, criminals pretending to be law enforcement officers, and fake video-call arrests used to pressure victims into sending money. Leah Bressack, Coinbase's vice president, said the company was "following the money, freezing assets, and sharing intelligence in real time" as criminal groups operated across different regions. Binance appeared among the companies named by the Justice Department as participants, though the department did not publish a company-specific figure for assets traced or frozen by Binance during the operation. Binance has previously described its spending on fraud prevention and law enforcement assistance, with the company placing its compliance spending at approximately $300 million annually.
Meta removed more than 3.7 million Facebook and Instagram accounts, pages and groups, most of which appeared to target Americans and Britons through impersonation. The operation identified 117 trafficking victims in Ghana who were awaiting repatriation to Nigeria, according to the U.K.'s National Crime Agency (NCA). Investigators in Ghana identified another 89 suspected fraud victims whose reported losses totaled approximately $8.3 million, though this amount does not represent money recovered during the operation. Investigators received leads on over 30 suspected scam centers during the operation. Scammers were found to use social media to find potential victims, messaging services to develop trust, and financial services to move stolen funds. The enforcement actions come amid growing concerns about digital asset investment fraud, with reported losses from online investment fraud reaching $8.65 billion in 2025, up 89% from $4.57 billion in 2023. Meta identified fake investment offers, romance fraud, employment scams, government impersonation and fraudulent asset-recovery services among the methods used by fraud networks.
Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva emphasized the collaborative nature of the effort, stating that "Criminals beware: Law enforcement from around the world are working together, and with private industry, to find you, stop your schemes, and bring you to justice." U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro noted that "Transnational fraud demands a transnational response," with the operation representing the first coordinated effort focused specifically on West Africa. The DOJ's Criminal Division's Cyber-Enabled Scam Initiative (CSI) was specifically built for this brand of collaboration, with the millions of bogus social media accounts taken down and dozens of arrests marking just the beginning of transnational efforts. The operation involved Ghana's Cyber Security Authority, the Ghana Police Service, the FBI and Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, with authorities saying some people initially detained at scam compounds were subsequently identified as trafficking victims who had been forced to participate in fraudulent activity.
