Scam compound raids in Ghana and Nigeria net 28 arrests after a week of NCA-hosted coordination

Police in Ghana and Nigeria arrested or detained 28 people and identified more than 100 suspected victims of human trafficking during an international operation targeting scam compounds in West Africa, U.S. and British officials announced Tuesday.

The operation was hosted by Britain's National Crime Agency in London last week and brought together 15 law enforcement agencies and the same number of tech companies, including Meta, Microsoft and Google, as part of what they called Joint Disruption Week.

In Ghana, authorities raided a compound in Sasaabi, a semi-rural community outside Accra, arresting 19 people and seizing 303 devices, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Meta's Rob Cochrane gave the same 3.7 million figure for Facebook and Instagram alone. The Department of Justice did not break the total down by company.

The Justice Department said the disrupted schemes included law enforcement impersonation scams, digital 'arrest' extortion schemes, cryptocurrency investment fraud (pig butchering) and other online fraud operations targeting global victims.

Officials said more than $11 million in 'potentially freezable' funds had been identified following the police action, but did not say how much had been frozen or seized.

U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said the operation began with information from Meta, which the NCA also credited with playing 'a key role in coordinating the event and encouraging broad private sector participation to maximize scam compound disruption.'

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro credited all of the participating businesses with having 'voluntarily disrupted scam infrastructure' on their platforms.

Last November, Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Josh Hawley urged the Federal Trade Commission and Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate whether Meta profited from scam advertising and whether enforcement action was warranted.

In February, Sens. Ruben Gallego and Bernie Moreno introduced the bipartisan SCAM Act, which would require social media companies to take 'reasonable steps' to verify advertisers and combat fraudulent ads or face action from the FTC and state attorneys general.

Earlier this year, President Trump signed an executive order on cybercrime, fraud and scam centers that emphasized law enforcement coordination, diplomacy and victim restitution rather than imposing direct new obligations on tech platforms.

Matthew Floyd, a deputy assistant director in the FBI's Criminal Division, described identifying assets as 'the easy part.'

Nick Sharp, the NCA's deputy director of fraud, said it was not yet known how many British or American victims the compounds had targeted, as forensic work on seized devices continues.

Meta said it is aiming for verified advertisers to account for 90% of its ad revenue by the end of 2026, up from 70% today.

Asked by Recorded Future News whether Meta would require identity verification for all advertisers, Cochrane pointed to earlier targets for verifying high-risk advertisers.

Ghana's 19 arrests plus Nigeria's nine arrests equal 28, matching the reported total.

Estimated losses of $8.3 million across 89 scam victims average about $93,000 per victim.

If verified advertisers are 70% of Meta's ad revenue today, about 30% comes from advertisers that are not verified.

A Reuters investigation last year, citing internal company documents, reported that Meta projected about 10% of its 2024 revenue, roughly $16 billion, would come from ads linked to scams and banned goods. Meta disputes that figure.