Alleged Black Axe members face wire fraud, money laundering charges in US
South Africa is set on Friday to hand over six Nigerian nationals to US law enforcement to face charges over alleged online romance scams. The group will be “transported from a correctional facility in Cape Town” to the airport Friday morning and “handed over to officials from the FBI and the United States Secret Service,” Hawks spokesperson Colonel Katlego Mogale said in a statement. The defendants will face wire fraud and money-laundering charges upon arrival in the US, Mogale added.
The six were arrested in 2021 and are wanted in the US for defrauding more than 100 women through online relationships, according to South African authorities. Some of the alleged victims were pensioners and businesspeople “who were targeted through sophisticated online relationships used to defraud them of their money,” according to the elite Hawks police unit.
According to BBC reporting published 25 August, Black Axe is a shadowy criminal network known for its extreme violence that operates across Africa, Europe and North America. A separate BBC Eye investigation in 2021 suggested that the syndicate had become one of the most far-reaching and dangerous organized crime groups in the world. South African authorities describe Black Axe as a Nigerian mafia-style gang tied to human trafficking, internet fraud and murder. Nigeria is its main recruitment ground, and many of its members are university-educated and inducted during their schooling, according to BBC reporting.
Black Axe has been on the radar of law enforcement agencies for a number of years, according to the BBC. The FBI launched operations against the network in November 2019 and again in September 2021, eventually charging more than 35 individuals for multi-million dollar internet fraud. Interpol has since coordinated several operations across multiple countries targeting the syndicate.
Interpol said its most recent coordinated operation ran from November 2025 to June 2026. Seven sites in South Africa linked to a syndicate involved in romance and investment scams were raided during the operation, leading to 39 arrests, the seizure of money and the blocking of more than 250 bank accounts, according to Interpol.