South Africa has become the country of choice of Nigerian fraudsters who are using it increasingly as a base for their international scams, the United States Secret Service says. It is believed this is one of the reasons for the opening in Pretoria next month of a US Secret Service office that will investigate frauds and counterfeiting.
Tom Johnston, a supervisory special agent from Atlanta, US, said in a telephone interview yesterday that the "South African connection" was a headache for the US government. "In the past two years we have seen the main operations moving from Nigeria to other countries, including South Africa," he said. The Secret Service Field Office established a number of task forces eight years ago to tackle Nigerian fraud - "you name it and they are involved in it to some extent".
Johnston said Nigerians commonly were not involved in violent crimes. He was surprised that they might be linked to the kidnapping of a Japanese businessman in the Durban area. "This isn't their usual modus operandi." The Secret Service was liaising with South African law enforcement agencies, Johnston said. "When our office opens (in Pretoria), our agents will work with the South African police on all fraud matters."
Source: IoL
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