{"id":149268,"date":"2021-10-21T15:10:50","date_gmt":"2021-10-21T07:10:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=149268"},"modified":"2021-10-21T15:10:50","modified_gmt":"2021-10-21T07:10:50","slug":"nigerian-romance-scam-suspects-targeted-100-women-fbi-interpol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=149268","title":{"rendered":"Nigerian romance scam suspects targeted 100 women \u2013 FBI\/Interpol"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.brudirect.com\/images\/news\/2021021_Africa1.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Many of the alleged victims are believed to be widows and divorcees<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u00a0WASHINGTON, Oct 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212; <\/strong>Eight Nigerian men accused of an internet dating scam have been charged in a South African court after a massive international operation involving the FBI and Interpol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Authorities in the US, where the investigation originated and most of the alleged victims are based, have applied for their extradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They are accused of defrauding more than 100 victims of almost $7m in total over the past decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is the biggest such bust in South Africa, according to police spokeswoman Col Katlego Mogale in PRETORIA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The suspects, aged between 33 and 52, were arrested in Cape Town on Tuesday following a legal assistance request from the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is believed the FBI and US Secret Service led the investigation and worked with South African authorities, including the elite police unit, the Hawks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The men are wanted in Texas and New Jersey for a variety of offences, including conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, money-laundering and aggravated identity theft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In opposing bail, prosecutor Robin Lewis alleged the men are members of the Black Axe, a transnational organised crime syndicate originating in Nigeria, whose specialities include laundering money through various accounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The suspects face 20 years in jail if convicted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is alleged they preyed on their victims through dating sites using false identities. The victims, often vulnerable widows or divorcees from around the world, thought they were in genuine romantic relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Col Mogale said once the suspects &#8220;had ingratiated themselves with their victims, they allegedly concocted sob-stories about why they needed money &#8211; ie taxes to release an inheritance, essential overseas travel, crippling debt, etc &#8211; and then siphoned money from victims&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The fraudsters intimidated and berated their victims, ruined their lives and then disappeared,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>South Africa&#8217;s TimeLive reported the Hawks were searching for a ninth man connected to the case. &#8212; NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Many of the alleged victims are believed to be widows and divorcees \u00a0WASHINGTON, Oct 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212; Eight Nigerian men accused of an internet dating scam have been charged in a South African court after a massive international operation involving the FBI and Interpol. Authorities in the US, where the investigation originated and most of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":149271,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[213,208,209],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149268"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=149268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/149271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=149268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=149268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=149268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}