FBI Operation Blackout Targets Scammers

That harmless text on your phone? It didn't come from a hacker in a

basement.

It came from inside a fortified compound halfway around the world—barbed wire,

armed guards, the works. These aren't call centers.

They're scam compounds built by criminals to steal billions from

Americans. Behind the fake profiles, there's a brutal supply

chain: human traffickers, gunmen holding captives, and

slave labor forced to work thousands of phones, online accounts, and fraudulent

websites. The victims are on both sides of the screen.

So how do you fight something this big?

The FBI stopped chasing scams one at a time and started tearing the whole

machine apart. With Operation Blackout, the mission is

results, and the results speak for themselves:

over fifteen

billion dollars in assets and cryptocurrency seized,

more than a dozen

compounds dismantled, hundreds arrested, thousands of

trafficked workers freed, over five hundred fake investment sites

shut down, and millions of scam accounts knocked

offline.

Through early warnings, the FBI reached over ten thousand

Americans before

the scammers could steal even more, saving them more than half a billion

dollars. By bringing law enforcement together

worldwide, the fight's

global. These crooks built an industry

that could target Americans from anywhere.

Under Director Kash Patel, the FBI is taking it apart

everywhere.