Nigerian fraudsters targeting computer companies

Computer suppliers are being warned about a new kind of scam in which Nigerian fraudsters dupe people by sending counterfeit cheques as payment for items exported.

At least one computer supplier in Malta has fallen prey to the tricksters, losing some Lm4,000 in the process, according to a supplier.

In the last couple of years, cyberspace has been invaded with e-mail scams from swindlers posing as senior Nigerian government officials who seek the assistance of people abroad to transfer huge sums of money into foreign bank accounts.

Now the fraudsters have taken the scam to another level and are targeting computer companies.

The Nigerian fraudsters are writing to companies saying they had obtained their details via computer websites and were interested in making a purchase.

A copy of e-mail correspondence with one of the main computer suppliers for the shipment of 20-gigabyte hard disk drives to Lagos, Nigeria, was seen by The Times.

In this case, the supplier, who asked to remain anonymous, suspected that the request was shaky and withheld shipment until he had verified the payment.

In fact, the cheque he was sent, drawn on a UK bank for the value of £8,990, was found by a local bank to be false. A close look at the cheque shows that the fonts used are irregular.

When the supplier told the buyer that the bank requested an exact name and passport number, the Nigerians stopped communicating.

The supplier said he purposely quoted an inflated price for the somewhat outdated 210 hard disks - to decipher how genuine the case was. When the Nigerians raised no objection to the price, he realised it was a scam.

But other computer suppliers fell for the bait, with one supplier being charged Lm30 in bank fees before being informed that the cheque was false.

Banks all over the world have repeatedly called on the public to tread with caution whenever such offers are made, especially over the internet.

According to a survey conducted in the UK, reports of e-mailed Nigerian money scams, designed to obtain recipients' bank account details by offering to transfer large sums to them for safekeeping, rose by a staggering 900 per cent between 2000 and 2001.