US President Donald Trump appeared to grimace as the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced the arrest of 300 people and the seizure of $15 million in a recent operation targeting scam centres in Ghana and Nigeria.
The reaction came during a press conference in the East Room of the White House on October 22, 2026, attended by FBI Director Kash Patel and US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, when the FBI boss outlined the results of a global crackdown on criminal networks accused of defrauding Americans.
According to the FBI director, the operation, dubbed Operation Blackout, was launched under an initiative by Trump to dismantle scam centres operating across several continents.
He said the operation had targeted criminal compounds in Southeast Asia, Africa and the Middle East, resulting in the dismantling of more than 20 compounds and the seizure of more than $17 billion linked to the fraud centres.
The FBI director said the agency was working with the US Department of Justice and US attorneys’ offices to prosecute those involved and recover money stolen from American citizens.
“Just two weeks ago, we were in Ghana, Nigeria, and we arrested another 300 individuals and seized another 15 million dollars, being fleeced from American senior citizens through these scam centre operations,” he said.
Trump’s grimace was captured as the FBI director announced the figures relating to the operation in Ghana and Nigeria.
The FBI director also credited Trump’s relationships with foreign leaders for helping US authorities act quickly against the criminal networks.
He said the networks had initially operated in Southeast Asia and neighbouring cross-border regions before expanding into Africa, where US authorities pursued them.
The FBI director further disclosed that the operation had extended to the United Kingdom, where US authorities partnered with British forces on a disruption campaign targeting the networks and their online infrastructure.
He said technology companies, including Meta, Google, Microsoft and IBM, had also cooperated with the effort by shutting down internet trafficking and domain networks allegedly used by the global scam-centre enterprise.
The FBI director described Operation Blackout as a coordinated government effort to dismantle the networks, prosecute those responsible and recover funds for victims.
About the bust:
The Cyber Security Authority (CSA) had challenged FBI Director Kash Patel’s account of a recent operation against suspected cybercrime networks in Ghana, insisting that the exercise was led and coordinated by Ghanaian authorities.
The Authority said the operation, known as “Operation Cyber Hunt” or “Operation Blackout”, was planned and carried out under Ghana’s laws and institutional frameworks, with support from international partners, including the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA).
$10M losses, 89 victims: FBI detains over 130 in Ghana scam centre crackdown
In a press release issued on October 8, 2026, the CSA rejected any suggestion that the operation was independently planned or led by the FBI.
The response followed a post by Kash Patel on X, in which he presented the operation as part of the FBI’s global campaign against scam centres.
“OPERATION BLACKOUT: This FBI’s global scam centre fraud demolition. Another takedown this week out of Ghana,” he wrote on October 8, 2026.
The FBI director said the operation had so far identified nearly US$10 million in losses involving 89 victims, while more than 130 people had been arrested or detained and over 300 electronic devices had been seized.
However, the CSA said the public account should reflect the roles played by Ghanaian institutions and other international partners.
It stressed that the operation was not conducted under the command of a foreign agency.
“Ghanaian authorities planned, coordinated and executed the operation within Ghana’s legal and institutional frameworks, and it thus cannot be said to have been conceived as part of an FBI-led global programme; neither was it conducted under a foreign operational command,” the statement said.
Watch Trump’s reaction in the video below:
