This is based on Meta’s own announcement on 13 October 2026. Arrest and rescue figures are law enforcement’s, as reported by Meta.
Meta and 14 other tech companies worked with law enforcement from ten countries to disrupt criminal scam networks in West Africa, Meta said on 13 October 2026 [1]. Meta calls it “the largest operation of its kind to date”; that is the company’s own description.
Among the companies taking part, Meta names Coinbase, Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, Starlink and Adobe [1].
What happened
The operation was hosted by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) at its London headquarters from Tuesday 6 October, with the FBI, the US Department of Justice and other US agencies. Police from Ghana, Nigeria, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and India also took part [1]. Over several days, the teams shared information to connect scam activity across platforms, countries and payment systems.
Meta says this is the first joint operation to broadly target scam networks in West Africa, where scam centres are “generally more decentralized and less industrial than those in southeast Asia” [1].
The results, as Meta reports them
- Accounts removed: Meta took down more than 3.7 million accounts, Pages and groups on Facebook and Instagram based in West Africa. Most appeared to target people in the US and UK, using profiles that pretended to be American and British users [1].
- Arrests: law enforcement confirmed 28 arrests, according to Meta. Leads on more than 30 scam centres were shared [1].
- Rescues: law enforcement rescued 117 people who had been trafficked and forced to work in scam compounds in Ghana, Meta says [1].
- Money protected: Coinbase found more than 65 active scam victims and stopped more than $415,000 in potential losses [1].
The scams included fake investment schemes, often involving crypto; romance scams; fake job offers; people posing as police or soldiers; and “scam recovery” fraud, in which past victims are promised their money back for a fee [1].
What they said
“Scams are a global threat that demand a global response,” said Chris Sonderby, Meta’s VP and Deputy General Counsel [1].
“Fraudsters can operate from anywhere and will target victims both domestically and globally,” said Nick Sharp, Deputy Director of Fraud at the NCA [1].
FBI Director Kash Patel said that, working with the Justice Department and the private sector, they “seized hundreds of devices, identified at least $11 million in potentially freezable funds, and truly saved lives” [1].
What this means
- Scams are moving. The companies say criminals look for new places to operate, and West Africa is now a target for joint action, not only southeast Asia.
- Sharing data works across companies. One platform’s fake accounts can be linked to another’s payments when firms and police compare notes.
- Watch for impersonation. Many of the removed accounts pretended to be ordinary American or British people.
Sources
- Meta, “Leading Tech Companies Join Global Law Enforcement in Major Crackdown on West African Scam Networks”, 13 October 2026. https://about.fb.com/news/2026/10/meta-tech-companies-law-enforcement-crackdown-global-scam-networks/
