Man jailed over €205,000 fraud in Donegal linked to notorious 'Black Axe' gang

A man jailed in Donegal last year for his part in a scam that saw over €200,000 taken from dozens of bank accounts has been linked to the infamous ‘Black Axe’ gang.

Gardai have made hundreds of arrests in Operation Skein, the Irish arm of Operation Jackel, an Interpol probe targeting the crime gang in 21 countries.

The Black Axe gang is a huge cyber-gang in Ireland and has been involved in a wide-range of frauds.

While a fresh operation in April and May of this year saw dozens arrested by Gardai, officers have had previous success in targeting ‘Black Axe’ - which originated in the 1970s in Africa - and other such gangs.

Last July, Ami Enabulele, of Glendale Manor, Letterkenny, was given a prison sentence for his part in a scam.

The 27-year-old, a father of three, was charged with 185 charges relating to the sophisticated online fraud.

In all a total of €205,201.93 was taken from dozens of personal bank accounts ranging in sums from around €1,000 up to the largest of €50,000.

Detective Shane Fitzsimons from the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB) explained how the accounts were accessed with the gang then pretending they had lost their passwords.

In between the gang liaised with some phone shop employees and bought SIM cards in the same telephone number as the bank account holder but using a different phone provider.

When the bank sent a text message with a new password to the account holder, the gang would then access the account and then begin taking cash.AIB fraud management spotted the missing cash and noticed a suspect IP address had accessed or 'taken over' 45 of their personal bank accounts.

Enabulele has close links to a Dublin-based gang member who was ‘higher up’ the chain in the operation and has previously been arrested.

Letterkenny Circuit Court previously heard that the man was an asylum seeker who was out of work and got involved in the scam through friends to make some money.

When passing sentence, Judge John Aylmer said the offences ‘involved very significant levels of fraud and dishonesty’ and sentence Enabulele to four years in prison with the final 12 months of the tariff suspended.