Cops find 15 000 fake cheques
2007-09-06 08:06
Abuja - Nigerian anti-fraud police intercepted more than 15 000 counterfeit cheques in just one month during a crackdown on fraudsters using postal services in Lagos, said the force on Wednesday.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said it had worked with the United States and British investigators to sift through tons of mail in search of fraudulent documents sent by Nigerian "advance fee" conmen.
The so-called advance fee fraud involved sending people emails requesting their help in exporting a lump sum from Nigeria. Victims were promised a share of the cash and asked for their bank details.
Financial scams
The EFCC said: "The exercise ... saw agents of the three law enforcement agencies poring through tons of outward bound packages in the pre-exporting mail processing centres of the Nigerian Postal Service and private courier companies.
"In all, 15 129 counterfeit cheques related to advance fee fraud scams were intercepted ... The operations opened up new investigation vistas leading to the arrest and prosecution of a number of suspects."
The EFCC, created in 2003, had tried to curb financial scams that had become a Nigerian specialty. Nigeria was seen as a major source of financial crime in several countries.
The EFCC had secured numerous convictions against email scammers, including a group of fraudsters who stole $242m from a Brazilian bank.
In Britain, a report published last November found that internet scams, credit card fraud, money laundering operations and forged cheques and postal orders originating in Nigeria were costing Britons millions of pounds every year.