Coinbase joins law enforcement to combat West African scam networks

Coinbase spent a week in London doing something exchanges are rarely famous for: helping police catch people. The company joined Joint Disruption Week, an international operation that ran from October 6-9, 2026, aimed at transnational scam networks operating mainly out of West Africa. The targets were concentrated in Ghana and Nigeria. The goal was simple to state and hard to execute: find the money, freeze it, and get it back before it disappears. The results were substantial. More than 3.7 million fraudulent accounts and pages came down, 28 people were arrested, and 117 human trafficking victims were rescued in Ghana. Who showed up, and what they did The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) led the operation alongside the US Department of Justice’s Scam Center Strike Force. Private-sector partners included Meta, Google, and Binance, among others. Coinbase’s contribution came through its Global Intelligence team. The group provided real-time blockchain analysis, tracking illicit fund flows on-chain as they moved. It also supported asset freezes, shared live leads with investigators, and worked to protect people being targeted. The headline number for Coinbase: it proactively blocked m...