On October 13, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.K. National Crime Agency announced results from a coordinated operation against scam networks in West Africa. Authorities reported 28 arrests—19 in Ghana and nine in Nigeria—and said 117 trafficking victims had been identified in Ghana, with repatriation to Nigeria pending at the time of the announcement. (DOJ; NCA)

The NCA hosted an in-person gathering in London from October 6 to 9, with law-enforcement activity during the event and in the run-up. The DOJ described the effort as the first coordinated operation focused specifically on scam networks in West Africa. The agencies said the schemes included law-enforcement impersonation, digital “arrest” extortion and cryptocurrency investment fraud. (NCA; DOJ)

Arrests, victims and seized devices

The 117 victims were identified in Sasaabi, Ghana. The DOJ and NCA said their repatriation to Nigeria was pending when they announced the results on October 13. (DOJ; NCA)

Authorities reported seizing 303 electronic devices in Ghana and 53 in Nigeria. The NCA itemized the Nigerian total as six laptops, 35 phones and 12 routers. (DOJ; NCA)

How agencies and platforms targeted scam infrastructure

The NCA said Report Fraud worked with Meta to provide data used to identify fraud enablers. The NCA attributed the removal of more than 3.7 million accounts, Pages and Groups to Meta; the DOJ described that broader total as reported by participating companies. (NCA; DOJ)

The NCA also reported actions through specific data programs: more than 1,110 Facebook and Instagram accounts associated with Report Fraud data were disabled; OCC Data Enforcement identified more than 490 Facebook accounts and more than 490 advertising accounts; and OCC Data Domain Enforcement identified and disabled more than 380 scam domains. (NCA)

Private-sector partners identified at least $11 million in funds that could potentially be frozen. (DOJ)

Ghana operation in late September

A separate operation in Ghana in late September 2026 targeted six locations, where authorities identified 34 trafficking victims and seized 129 devices, according to the DOJ. The NCA’s breakdown of those devices was 85 phones and 44 laptops. (DOJ; NCA)