Get all the very latest news in Ireland straight to your email every single day Sign up! Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Scammers are trying to get money out of Ebola victims by offering to cure them using black magic.

The Nigerian con artists are targeting frightened families by inserting messages into websites, including Irish ones, carrying information on the virus.

The epidemic has so far killed more than 700 people in West Africa, including western aid workers trying to tackle the deadly disease.

Scammers are targeting websites based here where articles associated with Ebola have been bombarded with messages promising a quick fix for victims.

Dr Ray Genoe, of University College Dublin’s Centre for Cybercrime and

Security Investigation, said the fraudsters had form for targeting the vulnerable. He added: “We’ve seen cases like this coming out for years now.

“Usually it happens with disasters. There was one years ago with the tsunami crisis. They were looking for money to try and help their so-called aid effort.”

For €262 a man named Omokhagbon Osemuahu, from Benin City in Nigeria, said he could enlist the services of a witch doctor to cast the sickness out. He

promised all it would take was any of the following items:

The heart of a Cobra

A red piece of clothing

The eyeball of a porcupine

The wings of a bat

A 14-year-old tortoise

Seven hairs from a lion’s private parts.

When contacted by the Irish Mirror, Mr Osemuahu said the disease had been sent by the devil and the only way to cast it out was through the witch doctor’s “spiritual cure”. And he claimed to have already cured five victims of the fatal virus.

Mr Osemuahu, who dubs himself Dr Zack Balo, also promised if payment was not made people would watch their brother “die in front of you”.

Dr Genoe added: “This is just what these people do.”

Plan Ireland’s international head of disaster preparedness and response, Dr Unni Krishnan, said scams like this could undermine efforts to stop Ebola’s spread.

He added: “Raising awareness of risk factors of infection and measures people can take is the only way to stop the disease.

“Simple measures such as hand washing can contribute to stopping the infection and its spread.”