Aussies scammed for $7.7m

MELBOURNE - Police are staggered by the amount of money gullible Australians are losing to Nigerian investment scammers, with internet rorts netting more than A$7 million ($7.7 million) from Queenslanders alone.

Among those being duped are financial advisers, lawyers and university professors. One person put A$2.2 million into the hands of scammers over the past two years.

Inspector Brian Hay, from the Queensland fraud and corporate crime group, said yesterday that he expected the trend to be replicated across the country.

"This is not geographically bound by state borders - this would be everywhere," Hay said.

Other states had not yet analysed how and why people were sending money to Nigeria, Hay said, but 24 out of 25 Queensland victims contacted by police over the past two months had lost their funds.

Lured by the promise of a percentage of secret oil venture investments or Government contracts with guaranteed high returns, scam victims were asked for money to bribe local officials and secure lucrative contracts.

The scam industry in Nigeria has netted fraudsters billions of dollars over more than a decade.

"Of the 25 people we have spoken to so far, there is only one person that we would feel confident has been party to a legitimate transaction," Hay said. "We were blown away. We didn't expect this."

Hay said financial advisers, lawyers and professors were among those who have sent large sums overseas, sometimes several times.

"People start paying and paying and paying," he said.

Police decided to urge the public to exercise extreme caution in replying to the emails after they stopped A$250,000 leaving the country for Nigeria this week.

Hay said the Queensland victims were only "the tip of the iceberg".

The same scam was siphoning money to other west African countries and to fraudulent operations in Western nations, including Britain and the United States.

Gullible and greedy US investors were losing an estimated US$1 million ($1.46 million) a day to Nigerian scammers, Hay said.

People should beware of emails promising quick riches for little effort. "It's the same old story ... if it looks too good to be true, it usually is."

- AAP