Professor Olu Agbi said the portal would lead to the arrest and prosecution of Nigerian scammers. Already, co-operation between Queensland Police and the EFCC has led to the arrest of 10 Nigerian fraudsters and their assets will be used to repay victims. "The reports will show in Nigeria almost automatically - it makes it possible for the scammers to be traced as quickly as possible by the Nigerian EFCC," he said. Although the system is open to all Australians, NSW Police fraud squad head Detective Superintendent Col Dyson said he would take a closer look at the Queensland Police project and consider adding the reporting system to the NSW Police website.



Nigerian scams, also known as 419 frauds, are typically conducted via email and centre on the target being persuaded to advance significant sums of money in the hope of realising a much larger windfall in the future. The victims believe they are investing to make a large profit but, after sending the money, the scammer disappears or, for the most gullible of victims, continues to ask for more advances. Last year, angry at the negative perception of Nigeria created by news reports of Nigerian scams, Professor Olu Agbi lashed out, saying "greedy" Australian victims were also guilty because the scams they are caught up in usually involve the promise of easy profits by committing crimes such as money laundering. In a phone interview yesterday, Professor Olu Agbi said he stood by those comments but would still do his best to help any victims to retrieve their money, "whether you are innocent or not innocent". "The only people I sympathise with really are the so-called internet romance [victims] ... that is purely emotional," he said.

Detective Superintendent Brian Hay, head of the Queensland Police fraud squad, said 70 per cent of the Nigerian fraud cases he investigated were romance scams. The fraudsters go as far as setting up fake profiles on dating sites using pictures of attractive men and women. They string along potential targets for months before organising to meet them, but first ask for money, for instance, to help pay for a plane ticket. Victims are also used by the scammers to receive stolen goods and even to act as drug mules. Detective Superintendent Hay rejected Professor Olu Agbi's claims that Nigerian scam victims were greedy.

"My personal view is that a greedy person is someone who would be willing to cause a detriment to another in order to fulfil their needs and that applies to the fraudster, not the victim who got excited about an opportunity to better the lives of themselves and their families and accidentally threw logic out the window," he said. Detective Superintendent Hay said that, most of the time, victims of Nigerian scams never get their money back because they parted with the money willingly, usually via cash remittance agencies. He said Queenslanders lost about $660,000 a month to Nigerian scams, which represented one-fifth of the national average. But the direct co-operation with the EFCC, enabled via the new online portal, would mean the fraudsters could be arrested and the money returned. He said that, in the past few years, 10 Nigerians were locked up for computer fraud because of co-operation between the EFCC and Queensland Police.

One case had just been completed. The perpetrator was jailed for 19 years with an order from the courts that all their assets - including two parcels of land and a car - be disposed of and repatriation made to the victim. "It's not just the money," Detective Superintendent Hay said. "These poor people end up on antidepressant meds, family relationship breakdowns, they go from being financially independent to being on welfare, we've had some attempt suicide. "We've had people blow their entire superannuation, sell their houses, sell their business - they've gone bankrupt." He said one of the biggest problems police faced was that victims were not coming forward and reporting the scams.

Most of the investigations of Nigerian frauds conducted by Queensland Police began when police contacted the victims asking why they sent so much money to Nigeria. But Detective Superintendent Hay hopes this will change thanks to the new online reporting system. Loading "It provides an effective, silent mechanism for them to make some inquiries or a report directly to the EFCC in Nigeria and have their matter looked at," he said. To better understand Nigerian fraud, Queensland Police is inviting law-enforcement bodies from around the world to the Gold Coast in October for a two-day National Advance Fee Fraud Symposium.