Nigerian Email Scammer Arrested

The Nigerian email spammer scammer has been arrested. According to numerous reports, a 39-year-old Sydney man will face court court charges on 17 crimes relating to a multi-million-dollar internet scam based in Australia.

The Nigerian or West African scam involved fraudsters sending a flood of annoying spam emails telling people they could claim millions of dollars of refugee fortunes, an inheritance, or a business opportunity - so long as they first sent money for expenses.

Australian police said that yesterday’s arrest came after a four-month investigation.

According to reports, State Crime Command Assets Confiscation Unit detectives arrested the Sydney man during a search of a property at Nyngan in the State’s central west. Simultaneous raids were also conducted at two homes in Sydney’s south-west, where police seized computers and documents.

ACU commander Inspector Jennifer Thommeny said the Sydney-based international syndicate had targeted hundreds of victims in Australia and overseas.

“In the last six months, we’ve probably tracked about $1.5 million,” Inspector Thommeny told reporters in Sydney.

“This is really significant,” she said. “We believe that this is the first arrest of its kind in the world relating to an Australian connection.

“We have identified victims who have been approached in NSW, South Australia, Victoria, Cyprus, Malaysia, Japan, Norway, Greece, Indonesia, Hong Kong, and England, and in many cases have been conned into handing over hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

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