[Video] DOJ Criminal Chief Outlines Cyber-Enabled Scam Initiative: Joint Operation Removed 3.7 Million Scam Accounts, 28 Arrested
The U.S. Department of Justice released an explainer video on its official channel on November 2, in which Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Criminal Division outlines the Department's Cyber-Enabled Scam Initiative (CSI), its standing mechanism for disrupting transnational scam networks that prey on Americans.
According to the Department, CSI brings together expert prosecutors from across the Criminal Division to accelerate prosecutions of cyber-enabled financial crimes, including investment and crypto scams, government-imposter schemes, romance and inheritance scams, financially motivated sextortion, and lottery and sweepstakes scams. It operates with nationwide jurisdiction and global reach, partnering with U.S. Attorney's Offices across the country. On March 6, 2026, President Trump signed an Executive Order directing the Administration to prioritize cybercrime and fraud draining American families of their life savings; CSI, the Scam Center Strike Force under U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, and the Homeland Security Task Force National Coordination Center are central to carrying out that order.
CSI's most recent results came from "Joint Disruption Week," beginning October 6, when law enforcement agencies from the United States, the United Kingdom and other countries joined private industry in London for the first coordinated effort focused on West Africa. Technology companies including Meta, Google, Microsoft, OpenAI and Coinbase removed more than 3.7 million scam accounts, Pages and Groups targeting people in the U.S., the UK and beyond from their platforms, and shared leads on more than 30 suspected scam centers. In total, more than $11 million in potentially freezable funds was identified.
In Sasaabi, a suburb of Accra, Ghana, authorities arrested 19 individuals and seized 303 electronic devices, identifying 117 victims of human trafficking now pending repatriation to Nigeria and 89 scam victims with combined losses of about $8.3 million. In Nigeria, authorities arrested nine individuals and seized 53 devices. The disrupted schemes included law-enforcement impersonation scams, digital "arrest" extortion schemes and cryptocurrency investment fraud, known as "pig butchering." In the last week of September, Ghanaian authorities also made scores of arrests at six locations, identified 34 trafficking victims and seized 129 devices.
"Criminals beware: Law enforcement from around the world are working together, and with private industry, to find you, stop your schemes, and bring you to justice," Duva said in the Department's statement. FBI Director Kash Patel said the operation arrested dozens of criminal actors, seized hundreds of devices, identified at least $11 million in potentially freezable funds and saved trafficking victims. "Transnational fraud demands a transnational response," said U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro.
According to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), investment scams were reported 72,984 times in 2025, with cryptocurrency investment fraud comprising 72 percent of that category; reported losses from crypto-linked investment scams rose 24 percent in 2025 to more than $7.2 billion. The Department notes those figures rest largely on victim reports and significantly underrepresent actual losses.
(Source: U.S. Department of Justice)
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图片：美国司法部官方视频截图（公共领域）/ Image: U.S. Department of Justice official video still (public domain)
