MADRID - Spanish police have arrested 87 Nigerians suspected of defrauding at least 1,200 people of millions of euros, mostly in the United States and Europe, the interior ministry said Thursday.
The gang sent out thousands of emails and letters every day to potential victims, making them believe they had been selected among thousands of others to participate in a Spanish lottery.
It also told them that they had won a prize of thousands of euros, the ministry said in a statement.
Those people who responded received official-looking but faked documents asking them to pay administrative costs or taxes.
Around 1,200 people filed complaints over the scam. But there were others "who did not file complaints out of shame, and who could represent about 90 percent of the total," the statement said.
"So, we estimate that the total amount known to have been defrauded is 20 million euros (32 million dollars), but that could be only about 10 percent of the total."
It said officers searched around 30 homes and nine business premises in the operation, seizing some 200 computers, 100 mobile phones, more than 60,000 letters and many false documents.
Those arrested operated from Madrid and the surrounding areas. Police began investigating the network in May 2007.
fz/wdb/gk
04/17/2008 14:02 GMT