Eight scammers from Nigeria have been charged in the U.S. with running multiple Internet scams from their operations in Cape Town, South Africa.
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The announcement was made by federal prosecutors in New Jersey on Wednesday after the suspects were arrested by authorities in Cape Town. For a decade, the men who worked for the organized crime group Black Axe operated schemes manipulated their victims into providing money to help someone who traveled to South Africa. Another scheme involved the victims believing they were in a romantic relationship with one of the scammers and sending money or gifts to the country.
“The Co-conspirators often used aliases not only of the purported love interest of a victim, but also of other people involved in that person’s life, including a purported child, a business partner, or a friend, to bolster the perceived legitimacy of the stories portrayed, as a part of the Romance Scam or Advance Fee Scheme and to further induce the victims to send money on behalf of the purported love interest.”
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According to ABC News, the victims involved in these scams would be widowers, divorcees, or people who are generally lonely due to their circumstances.
Once extradited, the men are facing charges of wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, and aggravated identity theft.