80 Nigerian E-Mail Scammers Arrested

80 Nigerian E-Mail Scammers Arrested

An international crackdown on e-mail scammers and telephone fraudsters has led to at least 80 arrests and the seizure of almost £8 million worth of fake cheques and postal orders heading for the UK.

The Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) has begun to tackle the multi-billion pound industry of mass marketing cons.

The best known instances are international e-mail scams promising vast wealth in return for financial details, but there are also hundreds of subtler frauds, for example asking victims to call a premium rate number in return for a non-existent prize. The Office of Fair Trading estimates that the cons cost the UK more than £3.5 billion every year.

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