Operation Blackout prevents $670m in fraud losses, seizes $17bn – FBI chief

FBI Director Kash Patel says Operation Blackout has prevented an estimated $670 million in potential fraud losses as part of a global campaign against scam centre networks.

Mr. Patel, in a post on X, reported that the operation had seized approximately $17 billion and led to the arrest of hundreds of alleged scammers.

He also said thousands of trafficked workers had been freed, while more than 10,000 Americans had been warned before losing money to scams.

“OPERATION BLACKOUT: This FBI’s global crackdown on scam center fraud continues to deliver outstanding results in Ghana,” he wrote.

The figures were presented as part of the campaign’s reported achievements in disrupting organised scam operations and protecting potential victims from financial losses.

The update follows a recent operation against suspected scam centres in Ghana. Reports on the crackdown said more than 130 people were arrested or detained, while authorities identified victims of fraud and recovered people believed to have been trafficked for labour.

The Ghana Cyber Security Authority has stressed that the Ghana operation, known as Operation Cyber Hunt, was led and coordinated by Ghanaian authorities, with support from international partners, including the FBI, the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency and Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

The clarification followed concerns about accounts portraying the Ghana operation as independently conceived and executed by the FBI.

Operation Blackout is part of broader efforts to disrupt scam centre networks that defraud people, particularly through online schemes, while also addressing the trafficking and exploitation of workers linked to such facilities.