FBI’s Operation Blackout Takes Down Overseas Scammers Targeting Americans

The FBI has intensified its global effort to crack down on large-scale scam operations targeting Americans. Director Kash Patel announced that Operation Blackout has seized approximately $17 billion linked to transnational fraud networks.

In a post on X, Patel stated that the operation has resulted in hundreds of arrests, the rescue of thousands of trafficked workers, and warnings issued to over 10,000 Americans before they sent money to scammers. The FBI estimates that this intervention has prevented around $660 million in potential victim losses.

FBI’s Operation Blackout

Operation Blackout specifically targets extensive, purpose-built fraud centers situated across Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and increasingly in Africa. Patel described these sites as entire “towns” and “cities” designed to exploit victims, particularly senior citizens in the United States.

These centers are not typical call centers; criminal syndicates reportedly combine forced labor with scripted social-engineering tactics, fraudulent investment platforms, cryptocurrency payment channels, and money laundering services. Trafficked workers are allegedly coerced into reaching out to targets via social media, phone calls, SMS messages, and Telegram.

A common scheme is the “pig-butchering” investment scam, where operators build trust through friendships, professional relationships, or romantic narratives, then direct victims to fraudulent crypto-trading sites that simulate fake profits. Once a victim deposits further funds, the operators either block withdrawals or demand fraudulent “tax” and “release” payments.

The operation unites overseas law enforcement actions with technical and financial disruptions. Investigators have conducted raids, seized devices and storage media, traced cryptocurrency, targeted scam infrastructure, and referred fraudulent accounts to private-sector platforms.

During an August operation at Cambodia’s approximately 200-acre O’Smach Resort scam compound, authorities searched 28 buildings. They seized 113 hard drives, 15 computers, and 35 boxes of evidence. In Madagascar, a Justice Department Scam Center Strike Force helped dismantle 13 scam centers reportedly run by Chinese organized crime groups, processing over 3,200 electronic devices.

The FBI also reported seizing 584 scam websites and referring 7,670 fraudulent accounts for action, highlighting these networks’ extensive digital footprint.

Operation Blackout includes a domestic prevention component called Operation Level Up, conducted with the U.S. Secret Service. This initiative identifies potential victims of cryptocurrency investment fraud and reaches out to them before they make irreversible transfers.

Officials reported that 10,406 people have been notified, with 77% unaware they were being deceived. The program helped prevent an estimated $660 million in losses and seized or froze an additional $122 million in cryptocurrency.

Victims are advised to halt payments immediately, alert their banks or exchanges, preserve evidence such as chats, phone numbers, domain names, wallet addresses, and transaction hashes, and submit a report to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.

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