Like the old Nigerian govt email fraud, city cops have now found web scams involving fake jobs and even a Nigerian widow in need! Police say these white-collar crimes are duping people of crores of rupees

Pictures of the woman that was sent in the email claiming to be from 'the 34-year-old Nigerian widow' to Sunday MiD DAY

EVERYONE with an email account has received this mail: one that claims to be from a Nigerian government or central bank employee, speaking of sharing a per cent of the millions stuck in an account, if you share your bank details with the sender. And fortunately, this mail has now been proved as email fraud, titled the Nigerian Advance Fee Scam.

But now, there are new email scams circulating on the web and the Mumbai police have traced this too to Nigerian nationals living in the city. Police say that these white-collar crimes are duping greedy, gullible Mumbaikers to the tune of crores of rupees.

Fake jobs and medicines

Rajan Malhotra (name changed) responded to a mail received in his inbox, assuring of a hotel job in United Kingdom and was duped of over Rs 3 lakh. The unit 4 of the Economic Offence Wing finally succeeded in nabbing a Nigerian national, Olanrewaju Ibidokun, from Mira Road on October 3, 2008.

In another case, the Bhandup police arrested three Nigerians recently for duping a drugs manufacturer to the tune of over Rs 20 lakh on the pretext of purchasing some veterinary medicine and asked for the payment for converting some black paper into dollars.

The Cyber Cell of Mumbai police receive over 300 mails and an approximate of 100 phone calls on an average per month intimating them of such fraud schemes, said a senior police officer. The latest modus operandi adopted by such fraudsters is to attach a photograph to gain the trust of the victim. Sunday MiD DAY received one such email (edited contents in box).