It wasn’t from Nigeria after all.
The Tel Aviv police fraud squad arrested on Sundaynine Israelis on suspicion of netting millions of dollars from U.S.pensioners in a so-called Nigerian scam.
Police raided an office in the city, which is suspected to havebeen the nerve center of the dodgy enterprise. The defendants, all intheir 20s and 30s, allegedly phoned American pensioners, told them theyhad won the lottery and asked them for a fee of several thousanddollars for the transfer of the prize money, which in fact neverexisted.
The investigation has been conducted in conjunction with U.S. law enforcement agencies. Last week, it was reported that the American agencieshad urged Israel Police to step up the extradition procedure of anotherten Israelis who were suspected of scamming $2 million in similarmeans.
Most of the ten defendants in the advance-fee scam, which wasunveiled by police last September, are in their early twenties, withouta criminal record.
The first hearing in their extradition plea took place last week,after a New York law enforcement official said many of the victims areold and frail, and urged the Israeli police to bring the allegedoffenders to imminent justice.