http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2001/07/10/scam_010710
RCMP make arrests in international phone scam WebPosted Tue Jul 10 17:27:29 2001 TORONTO - The RCMP, along with the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service, have cracked a multi-million dollar scam originating in Nigeria and arrested three people in the Toronto area.

More than 300 people around the world – most of them Americans – were duped into giving money to a fake organization. The RCMP say some people lost more than $50,000. Others lost millions.

Police say the fraud was sophisticated, high tech and organized.

Typically, victims received a letter either by mail or fax allegedly from officials of a large Nigerian institution, such as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation or the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The letters would contain an urgent request for help in transferring millions of dollars out of Nigeria to financial institutions in the victim's country. If the victims would help, they'd be in line for a handsome profit, in some cases as much as 30 per cent of the monies being transferred.

The letter says foreign accounts are needed and victims were asked to wire personal banking information and $10,000 US to cover administration fees.

'Boiler room' in Toronto Then, victims were contacted by a person posing as a merchant banker of the Central Bank of Nigeria. They were told the funds were now in a clearing house or mercantile bank in North America.

Phone numbers given for the fake banks actually rang in a "boiler room" in the Toronto area.

The scam continued with the victim asked to pay taxes, duties and other fees, all with the promise of a windfall, until the victim was bankrupt.

The RCMP began a co-ordinated effort with U.S. police forces in 1998.

According to an RCMP news release, police detachments in the Toronto area have received at least one complaint a week for the past eight years from victims who lost money in the scam.

Staff Sergeant Darryl Ross says victims lost more than money. Some suffered health problems, mental breakdowns, divorce and the break-up of their families.

Written by CBC News Online staff

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