NIGERIA: NEW COMMITTEE ACTS TO ADDRESS 419 SCAM AND INTERNET FRAUD

A new inter-ministerial committee headed by Ade Ajakaiye, the police commissioner in charge of the special fraud unit has been set up. Members of
the committee were drawn from State Security Service, SSS; the National Intelligence Agency, NIA, ministries of justice, foreign affairs,
information and national orientation, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NITEL, NIPOST, Internet service
providers, private telephone operators, office of the chief economic adviser to the president and the police. Haz Iwendi, assistant commissioner of
police and force public relations officer, told Newswatch that activities of the 419 people, especially Internet fraudsters had become worrisome. He said
Internet fraud was now pervasive.

'One, it is very easy. Two, there are business centres opening up everywhere now. And people are having greater access to the Internet because e-mail
business is getting cheaper and cheaper. And with the Internet system, you can even send e-mail to so many people at the same time. All it costs you is
a few hundreds of naira,' he said. He said Internet fraud was giving a bad name to the country.

Iwendi said internet service providers were cooperating with the police to stem Internet fraud in the country. 'We have told them what we are doing. We
have asked for their co-operation in tracking fraudsters down. We are also in touch with all the network servers. When we know they are using their
network servers, we write to them and they have been very co-operative. The network services we have contacted include Hotmail, Yahoo and APEXMAIL. They
have been very co-operative when we write to them and ask them to block questionable mails. We have given them e-mail addresses which are being
monitored,' he said.
(source: http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?e28966216&e=6248 )

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