Follow-Up: Madagascar Dismantles 13 Scam Compounds, Hands 148 Chinese Nationals to China
Antananarivo — Authorities in Madagascar dismantled 13 online scam compounds in operations in August and September conducted with the U.S. Department of Justice, Agence France-Presse reported on November 1. The compounds, run mostly by Chinese nationals, carried out romance, cryptocurrency and fake-investment scams. Madagascar's Justice Ministry said 148 Chinese nationals had been handed over to China.
U.S. authorities said about $52 million in cryptocurrency was seized in a single day and more than 3,200 electronic devices were processed. Hassan Mouigni, chief of the Madagascar police crime investigation unit, told AFP the networks began in discreet villas but later rented entire hotels, drawing the attention of residents and investigators; one suspected compound at the Live Hotel in Antananarivo was allegedly headed by a Chinese national who was among those sent to China.
The U.S. Department of Justice has charged Malaysian national Chui Kok Wa with running a romance-scam scheme from a villa in Ivato, an upscale neighborhood near the capital. The department assessed that his criminal group, with connections to China and Malaysia, opened compounds in Madagascar in early 2025, likely moving from Cambodia after law-enforcement pressure there. Three Brazilian nationals told FBI investigators they had answered online job advertisements, ended up at a scam compound in Cambodia, and were moved to Antananarivo in early May 2026.
Investigators say the networks also lured about 20 citizens of Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe with offers of high-paying jobs, confiscated their passports and forced them to take part in scams aimed mainly at people in the United States, Canada and Pakistan. In a separate scandal in August, 11 Chinese nationals arrested in the crackdown walked free from a Madagascar jail, in a case allegedly implicating the head of the prison service. A U.S. federal law enforcement officer said in court documents that Chinese nationals identified as leaders of the operations could not be questioned by the FBI after their handover to China.
The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime warned last year that such scam networks were expanding into Southern Africa. GSM reported on October 27 that the Justice Department's Scam Center Strike Force had charged six Africa-based suspects, including Chui Kok Wa.
Related: Follow-up: DOJ Scam Center Strike Force charges six Madagascar-based suspects in NFT romance scam
Source: Agence France-Presse
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：马达加斯加首都 Antananarivo 市景，女王宫山丘一带。照片 CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Antananarivo, capital of Madagascar, around the Rova palace hill. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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