11 Nigerians arrested over dating scam

Berlin – German police said yesterday they had arrested 11 suspected members of a Nigerian mafia group behind a large-scale dating scam.

The Black Axe gang was involved internationally in “multiple areas of criminal activity”, with a focus in Germany on romance scams and money-laundering, Bavarian police said.

The dating trick was a “modern form of marriage fraud”, police said.

“Using false identities, the fraudsters for example signalled their intention to marry and in the course of further contact repeatedly demand money under various pretexts,” police said.

The money was subsequently transferred to Black Axe in Nigeria “via financial agents”, authorities said.

In the process, the gang used a “commodity-based money laundering” scheme where products, often with a seeming “charitable purpose” were bought and delivered to Nigeria.

About 450 cases had been reported in the region of Bavaria in 2023 alone, with the damages rising to €5.3 million (about R109 million), police said.

The suspects, who all held Nigerian citizenship and were aged between 29 and 53, were arrested in nationwide raids on Tuesday.

Police swooped on 19 properties, including both homes and asylum shelters.

The Black Axe gang had “strict hierarchical structures under leadership in Nigeria” operating different territorial units, police said. The group had an “influence” on politics and public administrations, in particular in Nigeria.

Globally, the gang’s main areas of operation were “human-trafficking, fraud, money-laundering, prostitution and drug-trafficking”. –