The Justice Department says an international operation focused on scam centers in West Africa produced 28 arrests and the removal of more than 3.7 million accounts, Pages and Groups. Its October 13 release describes work during the week beginning October 6, hosted by the United Kingdom's National Crime Agency in London.
The account-removal figure comes from private partners' reports to DOJ. It counts online accounts and other platform objects, rather than individual people, convictions or reimbursed victims.
What the operation reports
DOJ describes 19 arrests and 303 seized electronic devices in Ghana, in the Accra suburb of Sasaabi. It says authorities identified 117 trafficking victims awaiting repatriation to Nigeria, along with 89 additional scam victims whose approximate losses were $8.3 million.
The release reports nine arrests in Nigeria. It describes law-enforcement impersonation, digital 'arrest' extortion and cryptocurrency investment fraud among the disrupted schemes. Arrests establish an enforcement stage, rather than guilt for every arrested person.
DOJ also describes activity in late September. Those earlier arrests and device seizures should not be silently added to the operation's October totals.
Account removals and money are different results
Private partners reported sharing leads on over 30 suspected scam centers and identifying over $11 million in potentially freezable funds. That wording does not say the entire amount has been frozen, forfeited or returned to victims.
The release names technology, financial and intelligence companies involved in the collaboration. Participation in the operation does not establish liability for those companies or independently verify each company's removal count.
What remains to follow
The next records would be charging documents, seizure or forfeiture decisions and any victim-payment announcements. This release provides no completed repayment total or final disposition for each arrest.
Its references to annual investment-fraud losses concern a separate reporting period. Those national figures are not the losses proved in this particular operation.