Members of ‘Black Axe’ cybercriminal group extradited from South Africa

Five alleged members of the Black Axe cybercriminal organization will make their first court appearance on Monday after being extradited from South Africa.

Prosecutors unsealed a 2021 indictment accusing the five men of conducting lucrative romance scams that stole thousands of dollars from more than 100 people.

Perry Osagiede, Franklyn Edosa Osagiede, Osariemen Eric Clement, Collins Owhofasa Otughwor and Musa Mudashiru are facing wire fraud and money laundering charges after running romance scams from 2011 to 2021.

All of the men are originally from Nigeria but ran the Cape Town branch of the Black Axe cybercriminal gang, which has been a focus of international law enforcement efforts for more than five years.

The five were arrested in South Africa in 2021 and will appear before U.S. District Judge Michael Shipp in Trenton, New Jersey on Monday after being extradited on September 11.

The wire fraud and money laundering charges each carry maximum sentences of 20 years.

In court documents, prosecutors said the five men were leaders of their local branch of Black Axe, which is headquartered in Benin City, Nigeria. Perry Osagiede founded the Cape Town chapter and ran the organization’s efforts to scam U.S. residents.

The indictment includes evidence of open discussions between Perry Osagiede and others about romance scams or fraud schemes. He shared multiple samples of messages he sent to scam victims or situations that could be presented and used to coax victims into sending more money.

The group found victims on social media sites and dating websites, using apps to contact and convince victims through aliases.

The Justice Department said the group often threatened to leak sensitive photographs of people when victims declined to send money.

Perry Osagiede helped run several South African companies that were used to launder the funds but some victims opened separate bank accounts for the scammers that were loaded with funds. Prosecutors also traced some of the laundered money back to business email compromises as well as romance scams.

Stefanie Roddy, special agent in charge at the FBI’s Newark office, called Black Axe a “notoriously violent transnational criminal organization” and urged other victims to come forward if they were scammed by anyone connected to the group. The criminal complaints include lengthy lists of the fake identities used by the group during scams.

U.S. law enforcement agencies have worked with Interpol and other governments to take down Black Axe. Two weeks ago, Interpol arrested 58 people across 22 countries, some of whom provided money laundering services and website domains to Black Axe.

Swiss and German law enforcement arrested 10 suspected members of Black Axe in April during raids in both countries.

The Treasury Department recently said about $12.7 billion has been stolen from Americans since 2023 through overseas romance and investment scams.