South African authorities are set to extradite six Nigerian men to the United States over their alleged involvement in a romance scam operation said to have defrauded more than 100 victims of about $6.2m.
The suspects, who were arrested in South Africa in 2021, are accused of belonging to the Black Axe organised crime network and are wanted in the US over alleged wire fraud and money laundering offences.
The South African Police Service’s elite Hawks unit said the men allegedly built relationships with victims online before manipulating them into sending money.
According to the authorities, the alleged victims included women, pensioners and business owners in the United States who were deceived through carefully constructed online identities and relationships.
Hawks spokesperson, Colonel Katlego Mogale, said the victims were allegedly targeted through sophisticated romance schemes that enabled the suspects to obtain large sums of money.
“Among the alleged victims were pensioners and businesspeople who were reportedly targeted through sophisticated online relationships used to defraud them of their money,” Mogale said.
She said the suspects would be transferred to officials of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation and the US Secret Service at Cape Town International Airport on Friday.
The extradition is expected to pave the way for the suspects to face the allegations against them in the US, where authorities are pursuing the case over the alleged financial crimes.
