Binance, Coinbase join West Africa scam crackdown as 28 arrested

Authorities in Ghana and Nigeria have arrested 28 suspects during an international crackdown on online fraud networks, with cryptocurrency exchanges Binance and Coinbase among the private companies helping investigators identify more than $11 million in potentially freezable funds.

According to an October 13 announcement from the U.S. Department of Justice, the operation targeted groups suspected of running cryptocurrency investment scams, impersonation fraud and other schemes against victims in the United States, United Kingdom and elsewhere.

The UK National Crime Agency hosted the coordinated effort in London from October 6 to 9, bringing together international police units, cryptocurrency companies and technology firms. Investigators identified 117 trafficking victims in Ghana, seized electronic devices and received intelligence on more than 30 suspected scam centers.

The $11 million figure covers assets that participating companies identified as potentially available for freezing. Authorities separately reported cryptocurrency seizures but did not disclose their value, the tokens involved or how much money had been returned to victims.

Ghana and Nigeria arrests expose scam operations

Ghanaian authorities arrested 19 people in Sasaabi, near Accra, where investigators seized 303 electronic devices during searches of suspected scam operations.

Officers identified 117 people believed to have been trafficked into Ghana and forced to work for criminal groups. According to the NCA, the victims were awaiting repatriation to Nigeria. The operation involved Ghana’s Cyber Security Authority, the Ghana Police Service, the FBI and Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

In Nigeria, police arrested nine suspects during enforcement operations in Delta State. Officers seized six laptops, 35 mobile phones and 12 routers, according to the British agency. The two sets of arrests account for the 28 suspects cited in the Justice Department announcement.

Investigators in Ghana identified another 89 suspected fraud victims whose reported losses totaled approximately $8.3 million. The department did not describe this amount as money recovered during the operation.

Separate enforcement activity in late September resulted in additional arrests and the identification of 34 trafficking victims. Officials described those earlier raids as part of the activity leading up to the October coordination event.

Authorities said some people initially detained at scam compounds were subsequently identified as trafficking victims who had been forced to participate in fraudulent activity.

The reported scams included fake cryptocurrency investment opportunities, criminals impersonating police officers and fabricated arrests carried out through video calls to pressure victims into transferring money.

Binance and Coinbase help trace suspected scam funds

Cryptocurrency exchanges participated alongside blockchain intelligence companies Chainalysis, Elliptic and TRM Labs, providing information intended to help authorities identify suspicious transactions and accounts.

In its October 13 statement, Coinbase said its Global Intelligence team worked with investigators to trace illicit financial activity, support efforts to freeze assets and share intelligence across participating organizations.

The exchange described how investigators connected blockchain transactions with evidence from fraudulent social media profiles, messaging accounts and websites.

These records allowed investigators to examine relationships between suspected scammers, their online operations and the financial services used to receive payments.

Leah Bressack, Coinbase’s vice president, said the company was “following the money, freezing assets, and sharing intelligence in real time” as criminal groups operated across different regions.

Meta separately disclosed that Coinbase had identified more than 65 people actively targeted by scammers and prevented over $415,000 in potential losses.

The amount represents payments the exchange said it stopped before victims lost the money. It is not part of a confirmed cryptocurrency seizure total.

Binance appeared among the companies named by the Justice Department as participants. However, the department did not publish a company-specific figure for assets traced or frozen by Binance during the operation.

The exchange has previously described its spending on fraud prevention and law enforcement assistance. In June, crypto.news reported Binance’s compliance spending, which the company placed at approximately $300 million annually.

Binance said at the time that its systems had intercepted $10.53 billion in potentially fraudulent transactions over just more than a year. Those company-reported figures concern a different reporting period and should not be added to the October operation’s results.

Meta removes 3.7 million accounts linked to fraud

Beyond tracing payments, the operation targeted the online accounts used by suspected fraud networks to contact victims.

Meta said it removed more than 3.7 million Facebook and Instagram accounts, pages and groups associated with suspicious activity based in West Africa.

The company reported that many accounts impersonated American and British users while attempting to approach victims in those countries.

Participating companies shared information about more than 30 suspected scam centers with law enforcement.

Meta identified fake investment offers, romance fraud, employment scams, government impersonation and fraudulent asset-recovery services among the methods used.

Under the fake recovery schemes, criminals approached people who had already lost money and requested additional payments in exchange for promises to retrieve their funds.

British investigators reported smaller, targeted removals tied to specific intelligence. More than 1,110 Facebook and Instagram accounts linked to information provided by Report Fraud were disabled.

Authorities separately identified more than 380 suspicious domains associated with the investigation.

Microsoft took action against accounts suspected of supporting fraudulent activity, although the company did not provide a comparable overall removal figure in the joint announcement.

Meta said its participation included sharing information that connected accounts, suspected criminals and the infrastructure used to operate scams.

The company identified 15 technology participants in the coordinated operation, which involved law enforcement agencies from several countries.

Investigators identify $11 million for possible freezing

The financial result of the crackdown remains more limited than the headline figure could suggest.

According to the Justice Department, private-sector partners identified more than $11 million in funds that might be frozen through further legal or financial action.

The announcement did not establish that authorities had successfully frozen the entire amount or seized an equivalent value in cryptocurrency.

No public breakdown identified how much of the flagged money was held at exchanges, in bank accounts or through other financial services.

The Justice Department reported separate cryptocurrency seizures without identifying the tokens or their dollar value.

The department cited FBI figures showing that cryptocurrency-related investment fraud generated more than $7.2 billion in reported U.S. losses during 2025, up 24% from the previous year.

Those figures came from the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center and cover reported fraud losses nationally, not the victims or transactions connected specifically to the October arrests.

An earlier West African scam investigation disclosed Coinbase’s participation in the London operation before authorities released the full enforcement results.

Separate INTERPOL investigations into cryptocurrency fraud had resulted in 58 arrests and $2.67 million in seized funds after coordinated operations involving 22 countries, according to the agency’s August 2026 announcement.

The latest Justice Department statement identified 72,984 reports of investment scams in 2025, with cryptocurrency investment fraud accounting for 72% of that category.

Federal investigators said the reported losses likely understate the amount stolen because some victims do not contact authorities.