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Amsterdam (pte024/10.06.2003/13:56) - A Dutch court has sentenced six residents of Amsterdam to between ten months and four and a half years in prison for e-mail fraud. According to Dutch media, two of those sentenced will each have to pay one of their victims 205,702 euros.
The men, who came from Nigeria and Benin, sent thousands of e-mails, faxes and letters to people all over the world, promising them lottery wins or asking for help in transferring large sums of money.
Unfortunately, some unsuspecting recipients fell prey to their promises. After receiving a message that he had won the lottery, one Russian sent thousands of dollars in "transfer money" to the group and paid for a so-called "non drugs statement". Only when he was supposed to pay another 35,000 dollars for a "non terrorism statement" did he become suspicious.
A Swiss professor had given the group 482,000 dollars in the belief that he would receive a larger sum for helping them launder money. The professor eventually cooperated with the Dutch police http://www.minbzk.nl/ and helped to lure five of the six criminals to a train station in Amsterdam in the summer of 2002, where they were arrested. The sixth member was caught a few months later.
It is still not clear just how much money the group was able to coax out of unsuspecting e-mail recipients. Up to now, only 20 people have reported their cases to the police.
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