Six Scam Artists Arrested in Holland

Six men from a group of scammers belonging to a network across western Africa have been arrested in Holland after a probe into the case of an interweb scam valuing US$ 1.5 Million.

The Dutch police said that the six men brought under police supervision in the first week of August 2007 are suspected to belong to a West African network. Out of the six, five are from West Africa (of whom, two are Nigerians). The accusation blames them for trying to extort money from an Australian man aged 49 years after assuring him over e-mail a high-priced business contract of US$ 90 Million.

This is one of those massive frauds launched with marketing techniques. A fraud that relies on telecommunication, like the e-mail, Internet, or fax, often asks for advance payment of the costs involved even before touching the promised deal, which actually never comes to the victim, said Harry Jongkind, coordinator of a Dutch police operation devoted to scams on the Internet. Australianit reported this on August 9, 2007.

The scam from this network usually chased accounts in foreign banks, but the criminals are never from the same country where the victim is located, therefore, police co-operation is difficult to manage. This scam began in mid-2006 in Japan from where it spread to various other countries ending up in Amsterdam where the Australian man arrived to meet his so-called business partners as per an appointment.

After remitting huge amounts of money, the scammed Australian realized that he was caught in a trap. He reported to the Dutch police who arrested three of the swindlers in a hotel in Amsterdam. The trio had arranged for a meeting with the Australian in the hotel to hand him over a suitcase with money, according to Police. Another meeting at Abcoude in an office building resulted in the arrest of the other three.

According to Dutch police, the fraudsters set up Websites purporting to be of prominent international banks where they created accounts with fake companies and borrowed names. The victims who lodged complaints have advanced money to the conmen anywhere between $13,700 and $4.03 Million.

Related article: SEC Imposes Trading Ban on 35 Companies

» SPAMfighter News - 8/23/2007