Seven Nigerians based in South Africa and members of a group calling themselves the Cape Town Zone of the Neo Black Movement of Africa, which is also known as Black Axe, and an eighth man who conspired with a Black Axe leader, to scam unsuspecting women in an online romance were charged with multiple federal crimes relating to internet scams they perpetrated in the U.S. from South African shores.

The arrests formed part of a joint operation by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), the U.S. Secret Service with assistance from South Africa’s serious commercial crime investigation unit, the Hawks.

According to the FBI, the suspects allegedly preyed on women – many of them widows or divorcees – by pretending to have a genuine romantic relationship with them. The suspects used social media websites, online dating websites to find and connect with their victims, using fake names and profiles. The Secret Service further alleged that the accused used the U.S. based bank accounts of victims and individuals to transfer money back to South Africa.

The U.S. Secret Service noted that the men “are charged by superseding indictment with wire fraud, conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy, spanning from 2011 to 2021”.

Charge Sheet

According to the charge sheet, from at least 2011 through 2021, the Black Axe – the defendants and other conspirators worked together from Cape Town to engage in widespread internet fraud, involving romance scams and advance fee schemes. Many of these fraudulent narratives involved claims that an individual was traveling to South Africa for work and needed money or other items of value. They also use a series of unfortunate and unforeseen events, often involving a construction site or problems with a crane. The conspirators used social media websites, online dating websites, and voice over internet protocol phone numbers to find and talk with victims in the United States, while using a number of aliases.

The conspirators’ romance scam victims believed they were in romantic relationships with the person using the alias and, when requested, the victims sent money and items of value overseas, including to South Africa. Sometimes, when victims expressed hesitation in sending money, the conspirators used manipulative tactics to coerce the payments, including by threatening to distribute personally sensitive photographs of the victim.

The conspirators used the bank accounts of victims and individuals with U.S. based financial accounts to transfer the money to South Africa. On certain occasions, the conspirators convinced victims to open financial accounts in the United States that the conspirators would then be permitted to use themselves. In addition to laundering money derived from romance scams and advance fee schemes, the conspirators also worked to launder money from business email compromise schemes. In addition to their aliases, the conspirators used business entities to conceal and disguise the illegal nature of the funds.

Acting U.S. Attorney Honig asserted that Americans are too often victimized by criminal organizations located abroad who use the internet to deceive those victims, defraud them of money, and, many times, persuade the victims to wittingly or unwittingly assist in perpetuating the fraudulent schemes. He thus, cautioned the public and against such scammers, urging them to be on guard against schemes like these.

“…and, more importantly, anyone thinking of engaging in this kind of criminal conduct should understand that the U.S. Attorney’s Office and our partners will find them and bring them to justice, no matter where they are.”
Attorney Honig

The Neo-Black Movement of Africa is a name interchangeably used for the mafia-style organisation that started on university campuses in Nigeria in the 1970s. Black Axe positioned itself as an organisation for the liberation of black people around the world. However, it was soon labelled a cult and banned under Nigerian law after it became synonymous with criminal activity globally.