✓ Official source
DOJ West Africa scam sweep nets 28 arrests as Binance and Coinbase help flag $11 million
Summary
The U.S. Department of Justice said transnational scam networks in West Africa were disrupted during an international “Joint Disruption Week,” the first such coordinated effort focused specifically on that region, hosted by the U.K.’s National Crime Agency with partners including the FBI and private industry.
Authorities made 28 arrests tied to the operations——19 in Ghana’s Accra suburb of Sasaabi with 303 devices seized, and nine in Nigeria with 53 devices—while Ghanaian authorities also identified 117 trafficking victims pending repatriation to Nigeria, the DOJ said.
Private-sector partners including Meta, Binance, Coinbase, Chainalysis, Elliptic and TRM Labs reported removing more than 3.7 million social-media accounts, pages and groups and identifying over $11 million in potentially freezable funds; the DOJ and CoinDesk stressed that figure is funds flagged for a possible freeze, not confirmed recoveries.
CoinDesk reported that Coinbase said it identified more than 65 active scam victims and prevented more than $415,000 in potential losses, and that partners also reported cryptocurrency seizures without disclosing their value.
Key facts
- The DOJ said the week beginning Oct. 6 brought together investigators and industry partners to disrupt scam centers in Nigeria, Ghana and other African countries targeting victims in the U.S., U.K. and elsewhere.
- FBI Director Kash Patel said partners “identified at least $11 million in potentially freezable funds,” and the DOJ listed Meta, Adobe, Binance, Coinbase, Cyjax, Elliptic, Chainalysis, Flashpoint, Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, Silent Push, Starlink and TRM Labs among private partners.
- In Ghana, authorities arrested 19 people in Sasaabi, seized 303 devices, identified 117 trafficking victims pending repatriation to Nigeria, and identified 89 scam victims with about $8.3 million in losses; Nigeria arrested nine people and seized 53 devices, the DOJ said.
- Disrupted schemes included law-enforcement impersonation, digital “arrest” extortion, cryptocurrency investment fraud (“pig butchering”) and other online fraud, according to the DOJ.
- The DOJ cited FBI IC3 data that investment scams with a cryptocurrency nexus had reported losses rising 24% in 2025 to over $7.2 billion.
- CoinDesk reported that the $11 million represents funds flagged for a possible freeze, not confirmed recoveries, and that partners reported cryptocurrency seizures without disclosing value or assets.
- CoinDesk said Coinbase identified more than 65 active scam victims and prevented more than $415,000 in potential losses, and that TRM Labs said it exposed a large-scale peer-to-peer laundering network.
- CoinDesk said Meta removed more than 3.7 million Facebook and Instagram accounts, pages and groups, and that participants provided leads on more than 30 suspected scam centers.