6 Nigerians to Be Extradited to US Over Alleged Romance Scams

Six Nigerian nationals allegedly involved in an ⁠organized crime network that carries out romance scams and cybercrime are being extradited from South Africa to the United States on Friday.

The six ​men, who have not been named, are suspected members of the Black Axe network and are wanted in the United States on wire fraud, money laundering, and other charges.

South ⁠Africa’s elite Hawks police unit said that the six men, who were arrested in 2021, had allegedly targeted more than 100 women in the United States, defrauding them of more than $6.2 million. Victims included pensioners and businessmen, police added.

“Through the coordination of Interpol South Africa, the six will today be transported from a correctional facility in Cape Town to Cape Town International Airport, where they will be handed over to officials from the FBI and the United States Secret Service, who arrived in South Africa this morning,” Hawks spokesperson Katlego Mogale said in a statement.

Romance fraud—in which online scammers manipulate victims by pretending to fall in love with them, only to dupe them and steal money or cryptocurrency—is a common form of fraud targeting Americans.

Scammers contact victims via online dating apps, often using an image of a beautiful young woman or a handsome man, and slowly convince them into thinking they are in a relationship. The scammers then either create a crisis that requires victims to send money, or ask victims to send funds to book a plane ticket to visit.

The Epoch Times reached out to the Department of Justice for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Enorense Izevbigie, an alleged Black Axe leader in the Cape Town area, was extradited from South Africa to the United States in December 2024 and charged in a superseding indictment with two counts of wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, and money laundering conspiracy, spanning from 2011 to 2021.

Izevbigie, who was also known as Lord Samuel S. Nujoma, is originally from Nigeria. The real Sam Nujoma was a former anti-apartheid leader and president of Namibia, who died in 2025.

Global Presence

Europol, the European Union’s law enforcement agency, said in April that 10 alleged members of Black Axe were arrested in Switzerland. The agency said at the time that Black Axe is a highly structured, hierarchical group with a global presence.

“It divides its territory into approximately 60 zones in Nigeria and 35 abroad, with about 200 members per zone,” Europol said. “In total, the organisation has roughly 30 000 registered members, and countless affiliated individuals such as money mules and facilitators.”

In recent years, tens of thousands of illegal immigrants from Nigeria as well as neighboring countries such as Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Mozambique have gone to South Africa.

South African police arrested 900 people in June during violent protests against foreigners, who are often accused of crime and drug dealing.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.