Handed over at the airport

South African police moved six Nigerian men from a Cape Town prison to the airport on Friday, where FBI and Secret Service officials took custody for extradition to the US.

“handed over to officials from the FBI and the United States Secret Service”

More than 100 women, $6m

The six are accused of defrauding over 100 women in the US of more than 100m rand. Pensioners and businesspeople were among those drawn into fake relationships.

“targeted through sophisticated online relationships used to defraud them of their money”

Arrested five years ago

The men were picked up in 2021 and have been in South African custody since. They now face wire fraud and money-laundering charges in the US.

A fraternity turned mafia

Black Axe started as a Nigerian student fraternity. It now runs across Africa, Europe and North America, tied to human trafficking, internet fraud and murder, and recruits university students during their studies.

Years of police operations

FBI operations in 2019 and 2021 charged more than 35 people over multi-million-dollar internet fraud. Interpol's latest sweep, from November 2025 to June 2026, raided seven South African sites, arrested 39 people and blocked over 250 bank accounts.

The Cape Town crane story

One script had a supposed love interest working on a Cape Town construction site. He was mugged, then needed a phone, then a loan for a broken crane, then legal fees, then taxes to release a bigger sum.

The money moved through victims

Prosecutors say the group used dating sites, social media and internet calls under false names, then routed cash to South Africa through victims' own accounts, sometimes getting them to open new ones.