FBI Director Kash Patel outlined the bureau’s recent efforts to combat violent crime and international fraud, pointing to large-scale operations targeting criminal organizations that he said have stolen billions of dollars from Americans while trafficking thousands of victims.
Patel credited President Donald Trump’s administration with providing the resources and support needed to expand law enforcement operations both domestically and overseas.
“We’re attacking criminals everywhere,” Patel said.
He argued that recent crime statistics reflect the bureau’s enforcement efforts.
“When you have 1.1 million fewer violent incidences in one year, that’s because this FBI has arrested twice as many violent offenders around the world in that same time period.”
Patel attributed those results to leadership from the White House.
“It’s not an accident, Sean. It’s President Trump’s leadership in law enforcement and resourcing us and protecting our elderly and protecting our kids and making sure their life savings and college tuitions don’t get wiped out by these criminal syndicates from around the world.”
According to Patel, the FBI’s international partners have played a significant role in those efforts.
“Our partners around the world are in on it with us,” he said. “They’re fighting with us because they’re being deprived and defrauded as well.”
He noted that dozens of countries joined the bureau’s latest initiative.
“That’s why our partners in Southeast Asia showed up. Twenty-four nations showed up, 400 law enforcement officers showed up.”
Patel said the operation was coordinated through the FBI’s Operation Blackout initiative.
“This is the FBI leading through Operation Blackout the mission to annihilate global scam compounds.”
He added, “We’re going to do it, and we’re going to keep doing it, and we’re going to keep reaching out to Americans.”
WATCH:
Patel later expanded on Operation Blackout, describing it as a coordinated international effort to dismantle large criminal organizations engaged in financial fraud.
“How we’re going to get after the scam compound frauds that are depriving Americans of billions and billions of dollars?”
He said the FBI worked alongside international partners throughout Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
“So the FBI launched Operation Blackout, which we conducted with our partners across the world, including in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.”
According to Patel, the operation dismantled several major scam centers.
“We took down four of the largest scam compounds in the world, and we freed 1000s of traffic workers.”
He also highlighted the financial impact of the operation.
“Sean, we seized over 15 billion dollars worth of fraud that was being deprived and stolen from American citizens, and we annihilated these compounds.”
Patel said the long-term objective extends beyond individual arrests.
“The main goal is to disrupt, dismantle, and then fully annihilate them with our partners in Southeast Asia, like the Cambodians, the Thais, and the Indians.”
He described the involvement of Thailand’s national police force during one of the operations.
“And we had the Royal Thai police go in there and literally scuttle a compound.”
Patel said law enforcement also relied on private-sector technology partners to disrupt the criminal organizations’ communications infrastructure.
“We also use technology with our private sector to suffocate the lifeline of these compounds and shut off 8,000 internet terminals.”
He explained that many of the scam operations occupied large compounds rather than traditional office settings.
“These are villages; they’re not buildings and offices and a guy behind a desk.”
Because of their size and international reach, Patel said dismantling them requires cooperation among multiple governments.
“It requires a global effort, and that’s what we did.”
Patel also announced the completion of what he described as the first Scam Center Summit involving international partners.
“And just last week, we completed this first ever Scam Center summit with our partners in Southeast Asia.”
Beyond enforcement operations, Patel highlighted a separate FBI initiative designed to prevent Americans from becoming fraud victims before money is lost.
“And on top of that, we’re proactive with Operation Level Up.”
According to Patel, FBI personnel have directly contacted thousands of Americans believed to be targeted by scammers.
“We have literally had 10,000 Americans saved.”
He said those outreach efforts prevented significant financial losses.
“We saved their life savings and literally their lives because we proactively went to them and said, ‘We think you’re being scammed.'”
Patel added that those individuals responded to the warnings, allowing authorities to prevent additional losses.
“They responded, and we saved over half a billion dollars worth of life savings from being defrauded by Americans.”
Concluding his remarks, Patel again credited President Trump for emphasizing fraud prevention as a national priority.
“President Trump’s leading out of the fight on fraud all over the place.”
WATCH:
