Interpol smashes Black Axe, tags it West African cybercrime mafia

The International Criminal Police Organisation has arrested more than 300 people with links to one of West Africa’s most feared criminal networks, Black Axe, and other affiliated groups.

In a series of covert missions, tagged, “Operation Jackal III” in 21 countries between April and July 2024, Interpol said the highly-coordinated cybercrime group was responsible for some of the world’s cyber-enabled financial fraud and many other serious crimes, BBC reports Wednesday.

While the police labelled the operation as a “major blow” to the Nigerian crime network, it equally warned of its worldwide reach and technological sophistication — making the Black Axe a global threat.

The report noted that Operation Jackal III had led to the seizure of $3 million of illegal assets and more than 700 bank accounts being frozen.

A senior official at Interpol’s Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre, Tomonobu Kaya, stressed the significance of financial technology and cryptocurrency in aiding the operations of cybercrime syndicates which are renowned for multi-million dollar online scams.

He said, “They are very organised and very structured. These criminal syndicates are early adopters of new technologies… A lot of fintech developments make it easy to illegally move money around the world.

The Black Axe is a secretive criminal network involved in trafficking, prostitution and killing operations around the world. However, cybercrime is the group’s largest source of revenue.

The report noted that several members of the dreaded group are university-educated and were recruited into the group during their schooling.

In a 2022 report by Interpol, it said, “Black Axe and similar groups are responsible for the majority of the world’s cyber-enabled financial fraud as well as many other serious crimes.”

Multiple so-called “Jackal” police operations have taken place since 2022. Dozens of Black Axe and other gang members had been arrested and their electronic devices seized during these transnational raids.

In one example, Canadian authorities said they busted a money-laundering scheme linked to Black Axe worth more than $5 billion (£3.8bn) in 2017.

Dealing with highly sophisticated criminal groups requires a high level of technological expertise and personnel.

Interpol said it had launched the Global Rapid Intervention of Payments system which enables the authorities in its 196-member countries to freeze bank accounts around the world with unprecedented speed.

The mechanism was used to halt a $40m scam targeting a Singaporean business in July 2024, the police said.