Nigeria is cracking down on mail fraudsters targeting Hong Kong, consular officials said last night.
Measures taken to stop the swindlers include disconnecting the telephone and fax lines of all private business centres in Nigeria.
'This drastic measure was necessitated by the fact that an overwhelming percentage of communication between fraudsters and their victims was through these centres,' said Nigerian consulate official Ahmed Umar.
Last week, Commercial Crime Bureau officers revealed that 95 per cent of letters from Nigeria to Hong Kong were attempts to defraud.
Nigeria had set up a taskforce to probe the scams, which commonly involve fraudsters promising proceeds from laundered money - but asking for a deposit first, the official said. They have been used to con an estimated US$70 million (HK$541 million) out of people worldwide.
'Do not be convinced by documents carrying the insignia of the Federal Government of Nigeria, Central Bank of Nigeria or Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation or any other government agency as such documents are faked or forged,' the official warned.
