The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) says it has captured six of its most-wanted fraud suspects across four continents, while a separate international crackdown on scam networks has led to the seizure of nearly $17bn.
FBI Director Kash Patel announced the developments in separate posts on his official X account on Sunday, highlighting efforts to track down fraud suspects and dismantle criminal networks operating across borders.
According to Patel, the six fugitives had spent a combined total of more than 4,000 days on the run. Fraud cases linked to the bureau’s Most Wanted Fraudsters list involved more than $2bn.
The suspects named by Patel were Manjit Singh Bedi, Elaine Agene Esco, Khalid Ahmed Satary, Herbert Leon Kimble, Sahid Abdullahi Ereg and Emylee Thai.
Patel said the suspects had believed they could evade American law enforcement by fleeing the country and hiding abroad, but added that the FBI would continue working with international partners to pursue people accused of defrauding Americans.
In a separate update on Operation Blackout, the FBI director said the campaign against international scam centres had resulted in the seizure of nearly $17bn, the arrest of hundreds of alleged scammers and the rescue of thousands of trafficked workers.
He added that more than 10,000 Americans had received warnings before losing money to scams, helping to prevent an estimated $670m in financial losses.
Patel said the operation was aimed not only at investigating suspected criminal organisations but also at disrupting their financial networks, rescuing victims and bringing those responsible to justice.
The wider crackdown has involved raids on suspected scam centres, efforts to dismantle online infrastructure used for fraud and investigations into the trafficking of people allegedly forced to work for criminal networks.
The FBI said it would continue collaborating with international law enforcement agencies to pursue suspects and disrupt cross-border fraud operation.
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