Six Black Axe Suspects Extradited to US in $6M Romance Scam Case

South Africa handed six Nigerian nationals to the FBI on Friday to face wire fraud and money laundering charges over romance scams that targeted over 100 American women.

South African police on Friday transferred six Nigerian nationals from a Cape Town correctional facility to Cape Town International Airport, where they were handed over to FBI and US Secret Service officials for extradition to the United States. According to police spokesperson Colonel Katlego Mogale, the handover was coordinated through Interpol South Africa. The men, arrested in Cape Town in 2021, are accused of belonging to the Black Axe criminal network and allegedly defrauded more than 100 American women of over $6 million through online romance scams targeting pensioners and businesspeople. They face wire fraud and money laundering charges upon arrival in the US.

The Black Axe is a Nigerian mafia-style syndicate that began as a student fraternity and has grown, according to a 2021 BBC Eye investigation, into one of the most far-reaching and dangerous organised crime groups in the world. BBC reports it is tied to human trafficking, internet fraud and murder, with Nigeria as its main recruitment ground and many members university-educated and inducted during their schooling. Interpol describes the network as part of criminal groups responsible for a significant share of the world's cyber-enabled financial fraud, typically through romance scams, cryptocurrency schemes and investment fraud.

According to a questionnaire circulated by the FBI in New Jersey, members of the group allegedly used various aliases on social media and dating websites to build fake relationships with US victims. A common narrative involved a purported online love interest travelling to Cape Town for a construction project, then claiming to have been mugged and asking for phones and electronic devices. Victims were also allegedly told the love interest needed loans for crane repairs, legal fees after a site accident, or foreign taxes to release a larger sum owed. Funds were allegedly routed through victim bank accounts to South Africa.

The extradition is the latest move in an escalating international campaign against West African cyber-crime networks. Interpol says a recent operation targeting such groups led to 58 arrests and the identification of 263 suspects. In South Africa specifically, authorities raided seven Johannesburg locations linked to a syndicate running romance and investment scams against retirees in English-speaking countries, arresting 39 people, seizing $2.67 million and freezing more than 250 bank accounts. CBS News notes the move comes less than two years after a prominent Black Axe leader was extradited to the US.

Romance scams are a booming and devastating crime category. According to the Federal Trade Commission, more than 64,000 Americans lost over $1 billion to romance scams in 2023 — double the $500 million lost just four years earlier. CBS News, which investigated a large-scale romance scam operation in Ghana in 2024, quoted a syndicate boss there saying Americans were the easiest victims to catch. The scale of losses underscores why US agencies continue to pursue suspects extradited from as far away as South Africa, and why Interpol has made disrupting these networks a global priority.

The six men are expected to face wire fraud and money laundering charges in US federal court after their arrival, though US and South African authorities have not publicly named them. The BBC reports it contacted Interpol, the FBI, the Secret Service and the US Justice Department for comment. The case arrives at a sensitive moment in Nigeria–South Africa relations: on the same day, Nigeria's parliament indefinitely suspended official visits to South Africa over anti-migrant violence targeting Nigerians, adding diplomatic friction to an already complex cross-border law-enforcement relationship.