It is the world's leading criminal intelligence service renowned for helping track down fugitives on all five continents. But now Interpol is itself under attack from a team of West African con-men who are using the organisation as a cover for their fraud. In the latest in a series of scams, e-mails bearing Interpol's name have been sent out across the globe. In them, the author claims to be from the Lyon-based crime agency and claims the group need the individual's details to facilitate an investigation. But like all the other so-called 419 frauds - named after the statute in Nigerian law which covers such crimes - the claims are fraudulent. Yesterday, a spokesman for Interpol urged anyone receiving the e-mails to ignore them completely. He added: "Interpol would like to draw your attention to a series of recent e-mail scams sent to members of the public using the Interpol name. Please note that Interpol does not send e-mails to members of the public. "If you receive an e-mail from someone claiming to be an Interpol 'agent' or officer, asking you to transfer money to an account, or saying that Interpol is required to intervene in any large sums of money being transferred, treat it as a fake message."