Authorities in Spain have arrested 34 individuals allegedly part of a criminal network involved in cyber fraud and believed to be connected to the Black Axe group responsible for illicit activities across Europe.
The operation was carried out with the help of the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office and the support of Europol.
During searches in Seville, Madrid, Malaga, and Barcelona, the police seized €66,400 in cash, electronic devices, vehicles, and froze €119,350 in bank accounts.
The Spanish cybercrime ring was led by individuals of Nigerian origin who were members of the Black Axe gang, specialized in so-called man-in-the-middle scams, such as business email compromise (BEC).
“The organization specialized in the scam known as Man-in-the-Middle (MITM), a technique in which criminals insert themselves into legitimate communications to intercept, modify, or redirect information and payments without the victims noticing,” the Spanish National police says.
“The most common form detected was Business Email Compromise (BEC), in which corporate email accounts are compromised or impersonated, allowing criminals to intercept genuine communications between companies, alter banking details, and divert large payments to accounts controlled by the organization.”
According to the investigators, the damages the cybercriminals caused in the last 15 years exceed $6 million, of which $3.5 million are linked to this operation.
The group used an extensive network of money mules and frontmen based in various countries across Europe, who aided in moving the illegal proceeds around and obfuscating the trail.
Four of the arrested individuals, who are the main suspects, have been put into pretrial detention status. They now face charges relating to aggravated continuous fraud, membership in a criminal organization, money laundering, document forgery, and obstruction of justice.
The Spanish authorities have underlined that the investigation is still ongoing, and more arrests may follow soon.
Black Axe, founded in 1977 in Nigeria, is one of the most far-reaching and dangerous cybercrime syndicates in the world, believed to have 30,000 registered members and an extensive network of money mules and facilitators.
The group is engaged in drug trafficking, human trafficking, prostitution, kidnapping, armed robbery, spiritual fraud, and, more recently, cybercrime.
Two years ago, the United States sentenced one of its members, Olugbenga Lawal, to ten years in prison for laundering millions stolen by Black Axe operators who scammed people in the country.
In 2022, INTERPOL conducted a large-scale operation in South Africa, arresting 70 suspected members of the Black Axe group.
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