atmaspheric | endeavors

Since this is such major net news I posted the entire story from cnet…

Eight arrested in Nigerian e-mail scam

By Matt Loney

Special to CNET News.com

October 3, 2002, 8:59 AM PT

Spanish police have arrested eight people involved in a Nigerian-led e-mail scam believed to have defrauded Internet users of up to $19.8 million (20 million euros).

Five Nigerians, a British man, a Spanish woman, and a minor whose nationality was not disclosed, were arrested in the operation code-named Global Trust. The scam involves sending out mass e-mails that ostensibly come from a prominent man who has tens of millions of dollars but needs help to access it, in return for a share of the proceeds. The group arrested this week claimed to have money stored in safe-deposit boxes in Spain, but told their victims that a debt had been incurred with the company holding the boxes, and that it had to be paid before the money could be released. More than 300 people–most of them from the United States, France, Germany and Spain–paid up before authorities swooped in.

ZDNet UK’s Matt Loney reported from London.

To read the full story, visit ZDNet UK.