Six arrested in Nigerian e-mail scam

Six people were arrested in South Africa last weekend on suspicion of being involved in a Nigerian e-mail and letter scam that is thought to have defrauded hundreds of millions of dollars from victims. South African police believe that the six people are part of an international fraud and drug-dealing cartel and have been sending thousands of e-mails and letters in an international scam. Four of those detained were Nigerian, one was Cameroonian, and the sixth was South African.

Potential victims receive an e-mail or letter telling them that the sender is trying to move a large sum of money and offering them a substantial percentage of the cash in return for letting it be deposited into their bank account. Anyone who expresses an interest is told they must first hand over some money to cover expenses such as banking fees and administrative costs. There are cases where American victims have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars through such advanced fees.

ZDNet U.K.'s Graeme Wearden reported from London.

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