By Nkiruka Nnorom & Marvellous Chukwunenye
The United States Mission in Nigeria has announced a major breakthrough in the fight against transnational cybercrime, with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, arresting nine suspects in Nigeria in an operation targeting scam centres stealing billions of dollars from Americans.
FBI Director, Kash Patel, disclosed this in a post on X which was reposted by the US Mission in Nigeria, saying the operation, code-named Operation Blackout, is taking the fight directly to international cybercriminal networks.
According to Patel, the Nigeria operation delivered nine arrests, seizure of 53 electronic devices and identification of $11 million in potentially freezable funds across multiple countries.
“Operation Blackout is taking the fight directly to the international cybercriminal networks stealing billions from Americans,” Patel said.
“These scam centers exploit innocent victims, steal life savings, and operate across international borders believing they are beyond the reach of law enforcement. They’re wrong,” he stated.
He commended Nigerian law enforcement and partners in London for their cooperation.
“Thanks to Nigerian law enforcement and our partners in London for their outstanding cooperation,” Patel said, warning: “To the criminals targeting Americans from overseas: Justice will fibd you.”
While the FBI did not name the Nigerian agency involved or the locations of the arrests, the operation is part of a wider international enforcement exercise coordinated from London.
According to the US Department of Justice, the broader crackdown resulted in 28 arrests across Nigeria and Ghana and the seizure of hundreds of electronic devices.
The operation also involved Meta and 14 other technology companies, leading to the removal of more than 3.7 million fraudulent accounts, pages and groups linked to West African scam networks.
Reports indicate that 19 of the arrests were made in Ghana, where 117 victims, said to have been trafficked and forced to work in a residential compound running scam operations, are pending repatriation to Nigeria.
The arrests come amid heightened US-Nigeria cooperation on cybercrime.
In September, South African authorities handed over six Nigerians to FBI officials over allegations of defrauding more than 100 women in a romance scam scheme.
In August, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, extradited two Nigerians to the US over alleged online sexual exploitation and sextortion of two teenage boys who later died by suicide.
In August 2025, the FBI arrested 22 Nigerians for alleged involvement in financially motivated sextortion schemes linked to a rise in suicides among American teenagers.
The FBI said Nigerian authorities will prosecute the nine suspects arrested in the latest operation for violations of Nigerian law, while investigations continue to freeze the $11 million identified across several countries.
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