Posts claiming to show an ex-FBI agent who tracked a scammer to South Africa are a hoax

“A retired FBI agent, James Benzon, took it upon himself to track down a Nigerian scammer who stole $520,000 from a client,” reads an X post published on February 5, 2026.

“The suspect, Chinonso Amadi, a Nigerian national residing in Ballingo, South Africa, was apprehended with the assistance of South African authorities and is currently being extradited to the United States.”

Image

Screenshot of the false X post, taken on February 10, 2026

The post, shared more than 3,000 times, contains two images: one purportedly of the retired FBI agent “James Benzon” and another showing the scene of an arrest.

Similar claims have circulated on Facebook, Instagram and Threads.

However, the claim is false, and the images are old and unrelated.

2022 bust

Keyword searches for “Chinonso Amadi” and “Ballingo” show neither the person nor the location exists (although there is a coastal town called “Ballito” in KwaZulu-Natal province). 

Contacted by AFP Fact Check on February 10, 2026, South Africa’s national police spokeswoman Athlenda Mathe said the claim was false and that it showed “a picture from long ago”.

Referring to the image of a man being detained, she said Interpol made the arrest four years ago.

A reverse image search confirmed this. The photo appeared in articles published in July 2022 that reported how Interpol South Africa had arrested James Junior Aliyu, a Nigerian national, for his role in a cybercrime ring involved in internet scams and money laundering (archived here).

Aliyu was arrested in the affluent suburb of Sandton in Johannesburg, following a widespread investigation involving South African and US law enforcement agencies. 

He was accused of swindling millions of dollars through email and text messages. Most of the victims were from the US.

Aliyu pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering and faced up to 20 years, according to a statement published on August 26, 2025, by the US Department of Justice (archived here).

Not ex-FBI

Using Pimeyes, a facial recognition search engine, we analysed the image of the purported ex-agent, Benzon. As a result, we found several references on German websites warning members that romance scammers were misrepresenting the individual’s photos (archived here).

AFP Fact Check was unable to verify the identity of the person purported to be Benzon.

But further searches revealed the image was taken onboard one of Italy’s high-speed trains run by Italo.

Part of the company’s logo – a leaping hare – can be seen on the headrest, matching images from Italo’s website. When flipped, a sign above the doorway reads “Carrozza Coach”. In Italian, “carrozza” means “carriage”.

Image

Screenshots comparing the Italian writing and the train logo (left), with a picture taken from Italo’s website on February 13, 2026

Furthermore, the name “James Benzon” couldn’t be found on a website dedicated to former FBI agents who volunteered their details, nor does it appear in any credible online articles.

Industry experts estimate that as digital threats escalate worldwide, cybercrime is projected to cost more than $10 trillion annually (archived here).