How an Online Romance Scam Allegedly cost 100 US Women $6m
An online romance scam allegedly cost more than 100 women in the United States over $6 million, according to South African authorities, in a case that has now led to the extradition of six Nigerian nationals from South Africa to the US.
The six men, who were arrested in Cape Town in 2021, are accused of being part of an organised criminal network linked to Black Axe. They were extradited to the United States on Friday, September 11, to face charges including wire fraud and money laundering. They have not been convicted, and the allegations against them will have to be proved in court.
The case offers a glimpse into how romance scams can move beyond simple social media deception and become organised financial crimes, with victims persuaded to hand over large sums of money after developing what they believe are genuine emotional relationships.
How the alleged romance scam worked
According to South African police, the suspects allegedly targeted more than 100 women in the US, including pensioners and businesspeople.
Rather than approaching victims with an obvious request for money, romance scammers typically begin by creating an emotional connection. A scammer may use a fake identity, photographs and a carefully constructed personal story to appear trustworthy.
The relationship can develop over weeks or months. Once trust has been established, the scammer may introduce an emergency, business opportunity, medical problem, travel difficulty or another situation requiring financial assistance.
The victim may then be persuaded to send money directly or provide financial information that can be exploited.
The FBI has previously documented cases in which victims lost millions of dollars to people they believed were romantic partners. In one case, a woman described losing $2 million to an online suitor she had never met in person.
This makes romance fraud particularly difficult to detect. The victim is not necessarily responding to a conventional phishing message or fake investment advertisement. Instead, the fraud is built around an emotional relationship.
Why pensioners can become targets
The South African police said some of the alleged victims in the latest case were pensioners.
Older people can be attractive targets for online fraudsters because some have accumulated savings, retirement funds or other assets over decades.
But age alone does not explain why someone falls for a romance scam.
The central weapon is trust.
A person who believes they are communicating with a potential partner may interpret requests for money differently from how they would respond to a stranger asking for cash.
The scammer can also gradually increase the amount requested. What begins as a relatively small favour can eventually become thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.
That emotional manipulation is one reason authorities continue to warn that romance fraud should not be treated simply as a case of victims being careless.
The alleged Black Axe connection
South African authorities have linked the six Nigerians to Black Axe, a criminal network that Interpol says is involved in cyber-enabled financial fraud.
Interpol has identified West African organised crime groups as being involved in several forms of online fraud, including romance, cryptocurrency and investment scams.
The alleged connection is significant because it suggests the case is not being treated as isolated individuals deceiving people online, but as part of a wider organised criminal network.
The extradition also demonstrates how investigations into online fraud can cross several countries.
The alleged victims were in the United States, the suspects were arrested in South Africa, and the alleged criminal network has links to West Africa.
That international dimension makes cooperation between police agencies increasingly important.
Why the suspects were extradited to the US
The six men were arrested in Cape Town in 2021 and are now being handed over to US authorities.
South African police said officials from the FBI and the US Secret Service travelled to South Africa to receive the suspects before transporting them to the US.
They are expected to face wire fraud and money laundering charges there.
Extradition allows a country to surrender an individual to another jurisdiction to face criminal proceedings for alleged offences committed under that jurisdiction’s laws.
In this case, the alleged victims and financial losses are in the US, making American courts the destination for the prosecution.
The case is also not the first recent example of Nigerian suspects being sent to the US over alleged romance fraud.
In May 2026, Nigerian authorities extradited Samuel Ugberease, also known as “Putsammy” and “Putput,” to the US over allegations involving a $1.5 million romance scam and other financial crimes.
READ ALSO: “FBI NAMES FOUR NIGERIANS WANTED OVER ALLEGED $6M FRAUD”
A wider crackdown on online fraud
The latest extradition comes as international authorities increase pressure on organised cybercrime networks operating across borders.
Interpol recently reported an operation targeting West African organised crime groups that resulted in 58 arrests and the identification of 263 suspects linked to various criminal networks.
In South Africa, authorities also raided seven locations in Johannesburg connected to a syndicate allegedly involved in romance and investment scams targeting retirees in English-speaking countries.
Police arrested 39 people during those raids and froze about $2.67 million in bank accounts.
The numbers show why romance scams have become a major law-enforcement concern.
They are no longer simply stories of individuals being deceived by fake online lovers. Investigators increasingly see networks in which different people can perform different roles, from creating fake identities and communicating with victims to moving and laundering stolen funds.
For the victims, however, the consequences remain personal.
The loss may mean depleted retirement savings, damaged businesses, unpaid bills or years of financial recovery.
And beyond the money, there is the psychological impact of discovering that a relationship believed to be genuine was allegedly constructed entirely for financial gain.
As the six Nigerian suspects face proceedings in the United States, the case is likely to draw renewed attention to how romance scams operate, why victims can be vulnerable to them and how increasingly international the fight against online financial fraud has become.