(SomaliNet) In just one month during a crackdown on fraudsters using postal services in Lagos, Nigerian anti-fraud police intercepted more than 15,000 counterfeit cheques, the force said on Wednesday. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said it had worked with US and British investigators to sift through tonnes of mail in search of fraudulent documents sent by Nigerian "advance fee" conmen. The so-called advance fee fraud involves sending people emails requesting their help in exporting a lump sum from Nigeria. Victims are promised a share of the cash and asked for their bank details. "The exercise saw agents of the three law enforcement agencies poring through tonnes of outward bound packages in the pre-exporting mail processing centres of the Nigerian Postal Service and private courier companies," the EFCC said. "In all, 15,129 counterfeit cheques related to advance fee fraud scams were intercepted. The operations opened up new investigation vistas leading to the arrest and prosecution of a number of suspects," it said of the operation which ended on August 16.
The EFCC, created in 2003, has tried to curb financial scams that have become a Nigerian specialty. Nigeria is seen as a major source of financial crime in several countries. The EFCC has secured numerous convictions against email scammers, including a group of fraudsters who stole $242-million from a Brazilian bank.