West Africa Scam Networks Hit In Major International Crackdown; 19 Arrested In Ghana, 3.7 Million Fake Accounts Removed
Transnational criminal scam networks operating from West Africa suffered major disruptions last week during a coordinated international “Joint Disruption Week” that produced dozens of arrests, seizure of hundreds of devices and the largest-ever takedown of fraudulent social media accounts linked to scam centers in the region.
According to a statement from the United States Department of Justice, the operation resulted in dozens of arrests, more than 3.7 million social media accounts removed and more than 100 trafficking victims rescued.
“The Criminal Division’s Cyber-Enabled Scam Initiative (CSI) was built for this brand of collaboration. The millions of bogus social media accounts taken down and dozens of arrests that took place as part of Joint Disruption Week are just the beginning,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
The coordinated effort targeted cyber-enabled fraud operations including romance scams, business email compromise, and investment fraud run from compounds in West Africa that often rely on human trafficking.
Ghana Operation: 19 Arrested At Sasaabi
In Ghana, authorities raided a suspected scam centre in the Accra suburb of Sasaabi, arresting 19 individuals and seizing 303 electronic devices.
During the operation, authorities identified 117 victims of human trafficking who are now pending repatriation to Nigeria. Investigators also identified an additional 89 victims of the scams with an approximate loss of $8.3 million.
The Ghana operation was led by the Ghana Cyber Security Authority, the Ghana Police Service Criminal Investigation Department, and the National Security Service, with support from the UK National Crime Agency (NCA), the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
According to the US DOJ, during the last week of September alone, Ghanaian authorities made scores of arrests at six locations across the country, identified 34 trafficking victims and seized 129 electronic devices as part of the build-up to the joint disruption week.
The crackdown forms part of a broader global effort to dismantle cybercrime hubs in West Africa that have increasingly been linked to forced labour, where victims are trafficked and forced to run online scams targeting victims in the US, Europe and Asia.
Authorities say investigations are ongoing and more actions are expected in the coming weeks as part of the Cyber-Enabled Scam Initiative.
