Interpol busts West African cybercrime mafia, Black Axe
More than 300 persons have been detained by the International Criminal Police Organisation on suspicion of having ties to Black Axe, one of the most dangerous criminal networks in West Africa, and other related organisations.
According to sources on Wednesday, Interpol warned that the highly-coordinated cybercrime gang was behind several major crimes and part of the world’s financial fraud facilitated by cyberspace, and that they were conducting a covert operation known as “Operation Jackal III” across 21 nations between April and July 2024.
The police described the operation as a “major blow” to the Nigerian criminal network, but they also issued a warning due to the Black Axe‘s technological expertise and global reach, which make it a menace to the whole globe.
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
According to the article, a number of the feared group’s members had college degrees and were enlisted while still in school.
“Black Axe and similar groups are responsible for the majority of the world’s financial fraud enabled by cyberspace as well as many other serious crimes,” according to an Interpol study from 2022.
Since 2022, there have been several police operations dubbed “Jackal” operations. During these international searches, dozens of Black Axe and other gang members had been taken into custody and their electronic gadgets had been confiscated.
For instance, Canadian police claimed to have uncovered a money-laundering operation associated with Black Axe in 2017 that included around $5 billion (£3.8 billion).
Handling highly skilled criminal gangs demands a high calibre of individuals and technological know-how.
Interpol declared that it had started 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.