Four men charged in Nigeria e-mail scam | CNET News.com
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A quartet of suspected e-mail scammers—three of them Nigerian citizens—could face scores of years in prison if convicted on fraud and conspiracy charges, the U.S. Justice Department said Thursday.

A grand jury in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Wednesday charged Nnamdi Chizuba Anisiobi, Anthony Friday Ehis, Kesandu Egwuonwu and another unnamed defendant with one count of conspiracy, eight counts of wire fraud and one count of mail fraud. Anisiobi also faces one count of bank fraud.

According to the Justice Department’s charges, New York-based victims of the e-mail scams lost more than $1.2 million to the fraudsters.

Their schemes resembled a popular fraud ploy, sometimes called a 419 scam, or an advance-fee scheme, that has dogged the African nation. Their perpetrators typically send letters and e-mails to thousands of victims, offering a large sum of money and attempt to dupe them into paying fees beforehand. The criminals then pocket the cash and shirk their end of the fake bargain.