Operation Blackout targeted West African scam networks
Original title: Behind the Scenes of How Operation Blackout Went Down
The Justice Department says the effort led to dozens of arrests and removal of more than 3.7 million fake accounts.
Dark Reading recounts Operation Blackout, a coordinated action against criminal networks in West Africa behind pig-butchering, romance, and cryptocurrency scams. Partners included the UK National Crime Agency, the US Justice Department, the FBI, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Silent Push, plus Nigerian and Ghanaian agencies. The Justice Department said the campaign produced dozens of arrests, rescues of trafficking victims, and removal of more than 3.7 million fake social media accounts. The NCA hosted Joint Disruption Week in London in early October.
Unconfirmed: Arrest, rescue, and account-removal figures are as announced by the Justice Department.
- The DOJ called it the first coordinated effort focused specifically on West Africa.
- Nigerian and Ghanaian cybercrime agencies took part.
- Silent Push’s Michael Sweeney described the company’s role to Dark Reading.
- Scam types named are pig-butchering, romance, and cryptocurrency fraud.
Indicators of compromise
auto-extracted · verify before use · export allAll| Type | Indicator | Context |
|---|---|---|
| md5 | 21b825d74e7c4683dd09d788c7fc31aa | /apple-patch-policy-ai#recipe=similar-items&sourcecontentid=21b825d74e7c4683dd09d788c7fc31aa) Apple Reverses Age-Old Patch Policy to Keep Up With AI by |
| md5 | 362b8b6db1ce493c4eee55479e5eaafa | over-to-private-sector#recipe=similar-items&sourcecontentid=362b8b6db1ce493c4eee55479e5eaafa) Hand CVE Over to the Private Sector by Brian Martin Jan 2 |
| md5 | 3e902b4f0859291fd322f90ebc26a2b7 | poses-ai-security-gaps#recipe=similar-items&sourcecontentid=3e902b4f0859291fd322f90ebc26a2b7) Europe's Multilingual Reality Exposes AI Security Gaps by |
| md5 | 584125add54736d0d7bd9eb777c54e8a | gy-prioritizes-offense#recipe=similar-items&sourcecontentid=584125add54736d0d7bd9eb777c54e8a) White House Cyber Strategy Prioritizes Offense by Jai Vij |
From the original article
8 min read at darkreading.com
A recent law enforcement operation to dismantle harmful scam centers was a big success. A threat intelligence expert walks us through what happened and why he wants more of the same.
By Arielle Waldman · darkreading.com
A short excerpt; the article and its images belong to the publisher. Summary, key facts and assessment above are AI-written from the article and can be wrong.