Eleven suspected members of a Nigerian mafia group behind a large-scale dating scam have been arrested in Germany.
The development was made known on Wednesday in a press statement made available by the Bavarian police.
According to the statement, the alleged Black Axe gang was involved internationally in “multiple areas of criminal activity” with a focus in Germany on dating scams and money laundering.
The dating trick was a “modern form of marriage fraud”, the police said, adding: “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.”
The money was subsequently transferred to Black Axe in Nigeria “via financial agents”, the statement added.
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.
Some 450 cases of romance scamming had been reported in the region of Bavaria in 2023 alone, with the damages rising to 5.3 million euros ($5.7 million), the police said.
The suspects, who are all Nigerians and aged between 29 and 53, were arrested in nationwide raids on Tuesday.
Law enforcement swooped on 19 properties, including both homes and asylum shelters, the police said.
The police said the Black Axe gang had “strict hierarchical structures under leadership in Nigeria” operating different territorial units.
The group had a “significant influence” on politics and public administrations in particular in Nigeria.
