Security agencies in Nigeria have intercepted counterfeit cheques, lottery tickets and eBay overpayment schemes worth over $2.1billion, Nigeria CommunicationsWeek investigations can reveal.
United States Postal Service is however claiming credit for the big haul and said that it sent 15 postal investigators to Lagos for three months who helped burst the scheme.
Nigeria Postal Service (Nipost) had also recently intercepted scam letters, international passports and monies running into millions of naira destined to several parts of the world.
Poverty, weak law and alleged protection of internet crooks in Nigeria have encouraged Internet swindlers to wreak more havoc on their victims.
Internet fraud has also continued to thrive in Nigeria, because of the unguarded nature of the country's internet topology that allows people to get access from just anywhere in the world.
Cyber crime is a crime perpetrated by the assistance, use and enablement of technology and the tools of technology and it involves the use of the internet and computers to perpetrate crime characterized by fraud, extortion, data theft, piracy, e-mail scams, hacking, distribution of hostile software like viruses and worms, identity theft, and impersonation, among others.
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), law enforcement agency that investigates financial crimes such as advance fee fraud (419 fraud) and money laundering has however being able to contain the crime leading to worldwide commendation.
The EFCC was established in 2003, partially in response to pressure from the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF), which named Nigeria as one of 23 countries non-cooperative in the international community’s efforts to fight money laundering.
