Law enforcement agencies in Ghana and Nigeria, working with Britain's National Crime Agency and 15 tech companies, raided scam compounds in West Africa last week. The operation, called Joint Disruption Week, led to 28 arrests and the identification of 117 suspected trafficking victims who are now awaiting repatriation to Nigeria. Officials also said 89 scam victims had lost an estimated $8.3 million.
Tech companies removed more than 3.7 million accounts, pages and groups linked to the scam centers. The disrupted schemes included law enforcement impersonation, digital arrest extortion, and cryptocurrency investment fraud commonly known as pig butchering. Investigators identified more than $11 million in potentially freezable funds, though they did not say how much had been frozen.
Meta played a key role in coordinating the operation, according to the NCA, and the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia praised the company's voluntary disruption of scam infrastructure. The praise comes as Meta faces scrutiny over whether it profits from scam advertising; a Reuters investigation last year projected roughly $16 billion in 2024 revenue from ads linked to scams, a figure Meta disputes. The company says it aims to have verified advertisers account for 90% of its ad revenue by the end of 2026.