Justice Department arrests 28 alleged scammers in Africa

Key Points:

• The U.S. Justice Department arrested 28 individuals in Nigeria and Ghana linked to sophisticated cyber scams targeting hundreds of Americans, involving investment fraud, law enforcement impersonation, and human trafficking.
• These scams have caused billions in losses annually, with cryptocurrency investment fraud alone accounting for $7.2 billion in reported losses in 2025, according to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.
• Authorities used real-time intelligence and international cooperation to dismantle these operations, seizing $11 million in assets and 303 electronic devices, while identifying 117 human trafficking victims pending repatriation.
• Meta reported removing 3.7 million scam-related accounts and pages from Instagram and Facebook as part of efforts to combat these fraud schemes.
• The DOJ highlighted the growing complexity and organization of these scams, which often exploit fake job offers, military impersonation, and romance scams targeting vulnerable populations, especially the elderly.