The FBI’s worldwide effort to dismantle scam centers targeting Americans has resulted in more than 130 arrests or detentions in Ghana, while investigators have linked the operation to nearly $10 million in reported losses, News Media has learned.
The Ghana operation is part of Operation Blackout, an international FBI campaign focused on breaking up scam compounds that defraud Americans, with seniors among the primary targets.
The FBI told News Media that investigators have identified 89 victims and seized more than 300 electronic devices. Those arrested or detained include suspected trafficking victims who are expected to return to their home countries, most of them Nigeria.
People are seen at computers inside a suspected scam center during an FBI operation in Ghana. (FBI Obtained by News Media)
FBI Director Kash Patel said the Ghana raid demonstrates the bureau’s broader strategy of targeting international fraud networks where they operate.
“The FBI’s ‘Operation Blackout’ is our historic, global scam center fraud demolition operation that takes apart scam compounds all over the world targeting American citizens – primarily seniors,” Patel said.
“We are attacking this problem right at the source and blowing these compounds up, seizing billions of dollars, freeing thousands of trafficked workers, and protecting tens of thousands of Americans at risk of losing their hard-earned savings through these scams. Those who steal from Americans no longer have sanctuary – this FBI will find them and bring them to justice.”
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Laptops were photographed during the FBI’s Operation Blackout investigation in Ghana, where agents reported recovering more than 300 electronic devices. (FBI Obtained by News Media)
The Ghana crackdown comes after Patel warned that international scam operations were spreading from established hubs in Southeast Asia and the Middle East into Africa.
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“That’s why you’re seeing the migration of these scam compounds to central and sub-Saharan Africa, which is where we are already pre-positioned to take them off,” Patel told News Media in September.
Also in September, U.S. investigators assisted authorities in Madagascar with the dismantling of 13 scam centers connected to Chinese organized crime groups. More than 3,200 electronic devices were processed, according to earlier News Media reporting.
FBI SEIZES RECORD $8 BILLION IN CRYPTOCURRENCY DURING INTERNATIONAL ‘SCAM COMPOUND’ CRACKDOWN
FBI personnel and other individuals pose outside a building in an image released in connection with the Ghana scam center operation. (FBI Obtained by News Media)
The FBI says Operation Blackout has resulted in the seizure of approximately $17 billion worldwide, hundreds of arrests and the liberation of thousands of trafficked workers. The bureau has not released a detailed accounting of the assets seized.
The bureau also says it has alerted more than 10,000 Americans to suspected scams, helping avert an estimated $670 million in losses.
The FBI previously said that 77% of the more than 10,400 potential victims contacted through its Operation Level Up prevention program did not know they were being defrauded.
Dozens of smartphones are shown as part of the FBI’s Operation Blackout crackdown on suspected scam centers in Ghana. Investigators say more than 300 electronic devices were seized. (FBI Obtained by News Media)
The investigation in Ghana is continuing, and the FBI expects the number of identified victims and the total financial losses to increase.
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