The Justice Department announced October 13, 2026 results of a “Joint Disruption Week” the week of October 6 targeting online scam accounts and transnational criminal networks in West Africa. It called it the first coordinated effort focused on the region, hosted by the UK National Crime Agency with U.S. and African law enforcement and private companies.
Companies including Meta, Google, Microsoft, Coinbase, Binance and Chainalysis took action on their own networks. They told DOJ they removed more than 3.7 million accounts, Pages and Groups targeting people in the U.S., UK and elsewhere, shared leads on more than 30 suspected scam centers, and identified over $11 million in potentially freezable funds.
Authorities made 28 arrests. In Ghana, officials arrested 19 people in the Accra suburb of Sasaabi and seized 303 devices; they identified 117 human trafficking victims awaiting repatriation to Nigeria and 89 scam victims with approximate losses of $8.3 million. In Nigeria, nine people were arrested and 53 devices seized. DOJ says the disrupted schemes included law enforcement impersonation scams and digital “arrest” extortion.