A 63-year-old widow was allegedly defrauded out of more than $600,000 -- her life savings -- by a man who was pretending to romance her.

That scam is one of dozens police uncovered during a cross-border investigation that included the FBI and a conspiracy to steal more than $5-billion from unsuspecting victims.

Toronto police held a news conference Thursday morning to announce details of their investigation and the charges laid against two men and a woman from Toronto and Mississauga.

Police say one of the suspects, who often used the alias Martin Acker or Martins Acker Jr., told people he was a representative of the United Nations. He supported this claim by using what police say are forged UN identification that dates back to 2011.

This suspect, police said, is also allegedly tied to a group called the Black Axe or Neo-Black Movement of Africa. This organization has links in cities around the world and is allegedly putting pressure on the GTA’s Nigerian community by using intimidation tactics and exerting their influence.

Police are accusing the suspect of transferring funds to the organization. Those funds were the proceeds of a crime, police said.

The money came from a number of victims who were encouraged to wire money into various bank accounts. That money was then laundered and directed to those who were behind the scheme. Most of the victims were contacted through social media and tended to be vulnerable, police said at a news conference Thursday.

The FBI were running their own investigation into widespread wire fraud and money laundering when they identified a suspect from Toronto and contacted local police for assistance. U.S. investigators will seek to extradite two suspects after they deal with the legal issues they are facing in Canada.

Toronto police say they expect the FBI to seek further indictments down the road.

The suspects who Toronto police identified as being connected to the case are Ikechukwu Amadi, a 34-year-old man from Mississagua, and 31-year-old woman Lineo Molefe. They have been charged in relation to the "romance scam" with laundering the proceeds of crime and fraud over $5000.

Toronto man Akohomen Ighedoise, 41, faces a number of charges. They are laundering the proceeds of crime, fraud over $5000 and participating in a criminal organization.