Global Coalition Disrupts West African Crypto Scams

A coordinated international operation dubbed "Joint Disruption Week" has struck a major blow against transnational criminal scam networks operating out of West Africa. Hosted in London by the United Kingdom's National Crime Agency (NCA), the multi-day effort united law enforcement from the United States, UK, Ghana, Nigeria, and several other nations alongside major private sector technology and digital asset firms.

The operation resulted in 28 arrests and the identification of at least $11 million in potentially freezable funds, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Private industry partners voluntarily took down more than 3.7 million accounts, pages, and groups that were actively targeting victims across the globe.

Transnational Cooperation

The coalition targeted the digital infrastructure and payment pipelines used by fraudsters to orchestrate fake cryptocurrency investments, impersonate law enforcement, and extort victims through fabricated video-call arrests.

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro for the District of Columbia, who founded the Scam Center Strike Force, emphasized the necessity of cross-border alliances. “Transnational fraud demands a transnational response,” Pirro stated, noting that investigators will deploy globally to protect victims.

The private sector played a central role in tracking and dismantling these operations. Digital asset firms including Coinbase, Binance, Chainalysis, Elliptic, and TRM Labs joined tech companies like Meta, Microsoft, and Google to exchange real-time intelligence with authorities. Coinbase's Global Intelligence team reported tracing blockchain transfers and linking them to fraudulent profiles and messaging accounts to support asset freezes.

Leah Bressack, Coinbase Vice President, noted that the action builds on prior enforcement against similar international fraud networks. “When we disrupted scam compounds in Southeast Asia earlier this year, we proved that coordinated action across industry and law enforcement works,” Bressack said.

The operation also drew praise from FBI Director Kash Patel, who highlighted the interagency synergy. “Thanks to brilliant partnership with the Department of Justice and the private sector, across multiple African countries, we arrested dozens of criminal actors, seized hundreds of devices, identified at least $11 million in potentially freezable funds, and truly saved lives,” Patel stated.

Rising Scam Losses

The enforcement action arrives amid escalating financial damage tied to digital asset fraud. Data from the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) indicates that reported losses from investment scams involving a cryptocurrency nexus reached over $7.2 billion in 2025, marking a 24 percent increase.

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) corroborated the scale of the threat, flagging $12.7 billion in suspicious activity connected to digital asset investment scams between September 8, 2023, and December 31, 2025. FinCEN’s analysis of 33,904 Bank Secrecy Act reports found that scammers typically convert their illicit proceeds into stablecoins, almost exclusively utilizing USDT.