South Africa will extradite to the United States six Nigerian nationals suspected of being members of the Black Axe organised crime network involved in romance scams and cyberfraud, police said on Friday.
The men are wanted by US authorities on charges including wire fraud and money laundering.
They allegedly targeted more than 100 women in the US, defrauding them of more than R100 million through online romance scams, South Africa’s elite Hawks police unit said in a statement, adding the victims included pensioners and businesspeople.
Black Axe grew out of a student fraternity in the late 1970s called the Neo Black Movement of Africa, It has since evolved into a structured, violent criminal organisation often dealing in financial cybercrime.
The six men were arrested in South Africa in 2021.
They will be handed over to officials from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and the US Secret Service on Friday afternoon at Cape Town International Airport, the Hawks said.
The extradition comes after other suspected Black Axe members were arrested in Switzerland and Spain earlier this year.
- South Africa will extradite six Nigerian nationals to the US, suspected members of the Black Axe organised crime network involved in romance scams and cyberfraud.
- The six men face US charges including wire fraud and money laundering related to defrauding over 100 women in the US of more than R100 million.
- The victims targeted were pensioners and businesspeople, according to South Africa's Hawks police unit.
- Black Axe originated from the Neo Black Movement of Africa student fraternity in the late 1970s and has evolved into a violent criminal organisation focused on financial cybercrime.
- The six men were arrested in South Africa in 2021 and will be handed over to US FBI and Secret Service officials at Cape Town International Airport.
Black Axe grew out of a student fraternity in the late 1970s called the Neo Black Movement of Africa, It has since evolved into a structured, violent criminal organisation often dealing in financial cybercrime.
