US Mission confirms FBI arrests of nine Nigerians, $11m tracked in fraud crackdown

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has arrested nine suspects in Nigeria in an operation targeting scam centres that steal billions of dollars from Americans, the United States Mission in Nigeria has announced.

According to Vanguard, FBI Director Kash Patel disclosed this in a post on X, which the US Mission reposted. Patel said the operation, code-named Operation Blackout, also led to the seizure of 53 electronic devices and the 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.

He commended Nigerian law enforcement and partners in London for their cooperation. The FBI did not name the Nigerian agency involved or the locations of the arrests.

The US Department of Justice said the wider crackdown led to 28 arrests across Nigeria and Ghana. Meta and 14 other technology companies also helped remove more than 3.7 million fraudulent accounts, pages and groups linked to West African scam networks.

The FBI said Nigerian authorities will prosecute the nine suspects, while investigations continue to freeze the identified funds.