Notorious Black Axe cybercrime gang disrupted in Europol raids

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Spanish police arrest 34 suspected Black Axe members in raids across Seville, Madrid, Malaga, and Barcelona
Black Axe, linked to the Neo-Black Movement of Africa, has ~30,000 members worldwide
Group engages in cyber-fraud, trafficking, armed robbery, and recruits money mules in impoverished areas

Spanish police have arrested 34 individuals suspected of running Black Axe, a malicious organization engaged in cyber fraud as part of a network of criminal activities.

A Europol press release noted the Spanish National Police and the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office conducted raids in Seville, Madrid, Malaga, and Barcelona, arresting dozens of members of Black Axe. During the raid, they seized almost $140,000 in bank accounts, and $77,000 in cash.

Black Axe is apparently a large, highly structured, hierarchical group headquartered in Nigeria, with members scattered across dozens of countries, while their operations span the globe.

Recruiting money mules

The group scammed their way into “billions of euros”, Europol explained, saying that it engages in all sorts of criminal activity: cyber-enabled fraud, drug trafficking, human trafficking and prostitution, kidnapping, armed robbery and fraudulent spiritual practices. The majority of their operations seem to be small-scale but add up quickly.

The core group that was arrested was allegedly engaged in recruiting money mules in Spain - mostly in impoverished areas. While the arrests were carried out mostly by Spanish operatives, German law enforcement provided analytical support and intelligence and deployed two officers during the raid.

Europol says Black Axe is formally linked to the Neo-Black Movement of Africa and is a “highly structured, hierarchical group with a global presence.”

“It divides its territory into approximately 60 zones in Nigeria and 35 abroad, with about 200 members per zone. In total, the organization has roughly 30 000 registered members, and countless affiliated individuals such as money mules and facilitators,” it said.

“The group enforces strict codes of conduct, violent and ritualistic initiations, and spiritual practices.”

No names were shared, and at this time, we don’t know exactly which cyber campaigns Black Axe conducted.

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Sead is a seasoned freelance journalist based in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He writes about IT (cloud, IoT, 5G, VPN) and cybersecurity (ransomware, data breaches, laws and regulations). In his career, spanning more than a decade, he’s written for numerous media outlets, including Al Jazeera Balkans. He’s also held several modules on content writing for Represent Communications.

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