FBI Says $17 Billion Seized From Overseas Scam Compounds in Operation Blackout

President Donald Trump chaired a White House roundtable on cybercrime on Wednesday, October 21, where FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau and its partners have seized more than $17 billion from overseas scam compounds under an effort called Operation Blackout. Patel said the operation has destroyed more than 20 compounds run by criminal syndicates across Southeast Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Trump opened the session with the administration's own totals. He said federal law enforcement has warned over 10,000 Americans who were being targeted for victimization and has prevented at least $1.6 billion in losses this year. He said authorities have also frozen nearly $1 billion in cybercurrency tied to foreign scammers and shut down more than 500 fraudulent websites.

What the FBI reported

Patel described the compounds as towns built by criminal syndicates, with housing and trafficked victims forced to work the scams. He said the syndicates move when investigators close in. "They moved to Africa. We got them there, too," he said. Two weeks ago, he said, teams working in Ghana and Nigeria arrested another 300 people and seized another $15 million that was being taken from American senior citizens.

Attorney General Todd Blanche, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also took part. White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said Trump had effectively declared cyber warfare against the cyber criminals, Reuters reported.

Earlier cases behind the push

Blanche pointed to work done earlier this year. In April, he said, the FBI and Dubai Police announced the arrests of at least 276 people and the dismantling of at least nine scam centers that targeted Americans, and prosecutors unsealed charges against the centers' managers and recruiters. He said the State Department is now refusing entry to scam operators.

The roundtable followed a March executive order in which Trump directed the Justice Department to put a priority on identifying and prosecuting online scammers. Officials at the session said seniors, children and low income families are hit hardest by the schemes, which include ransomware attacks, phishing campaigns, sextortion and investment fraud.

The scale of the losses

Trump said Americans lost more than $20 billion to cybercrime in 2025 through impersonation schemes, ransomware attacks, scam call centers and other methods. Separately, Americans filed more than 1 million complaints with the FBI about internet scams last year, a rise of 17 percent from 2024, according to an FBI report cited by Reuters.

The event came less than two weeks before the November 3 midterm elections, with early voting already under way in many states. Republicans risk losing control of Congress, and polls show the rising cost of living is the top concern for voters, Reuters reported.