The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has announced the arrest of 28 people in Nigeria and Ghana as part of Operation Blackout, a crackdown on international scam networks accused of defrauding Americans.
FBI Director Kash Patel disclosed the figures in a post on X on Tuesday, saying the operation also led to the seizure of more than 350 electronic devices and the identification of over $11m in potentially freezable funds.
The operation, conducted with international law enforcement partners, also identified more than 120 people believed to have been trafficked and forced to work in scam operations.
According to details reported by Fox News Digital, 19 suspects were arrested in Ghana, while nine were arrested in Nigeria. The suspects arrested in Nigeria are expected to face prosecution under Nigerian law.
In Ghana, authorities identified 117 people awaiting repatriation to Nigeria after they were found in circumstances linked to suspected human trafficking and online fraud.
The operation also resulted in the removal of more than 3.7 million Facebook and Instagram accounts, pages and groups linked to scam activity, following cooperation between Meta, the FBI, the United States Department of Justice and the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency.
Patel said the crackdown targeted criminal networks operating across borders and warned that suspects could not evade law enforcement by operating from another country.
The investigation also identified more than 100 potential scam victims in the United States, with reported losses exceeding $10m, according to the report.
Operation Blackout is part of the FBI’s wider campaign to disrupt international scam compounds, where criminal networks use online fraud schemes to target victims abroad. Some of these operations involve trafficked people who are allegedly coerced into carrying out scams.
