Fifty-five Nigerians were arrested in armed swoops by Spanish fraudbusters on more than 60 homes and businesses. The suspects were rounded up by cops backed by riot police in Malaga, on Spain’s Costa del Sol. The gang are believed to have ripped off 1,500 victims worldwide – many of them British – for £21.6million.Individual losses average £14,000, but range from £640 to a massive £720,000. The crackdown followed the jailing of a Nigerian last Friday in Surrey after a disabled British pensioner was swindled out of his £100,000 life savings in a lottery scam. Britain’s Serious Organised Crime Agency is also currently engaged in a long-running investigation in Spain and Nigeria into lottery rackets which target Britons. Victims get letters saying they have won vast prizes in Spain’s legendary state lottery. The villains follow up with demands for cash to cover “local taxes” and “administrative charges”. Inspector Antonio Pintano, head of the National Police Fraud Squad’s lottery unit, said: “Many of those who are swindled are elderly.” Nigerian Victor Ifejika, 42, was jailed for a year last week for conning Gareth Jones, 70. Mr Jones was so convinced he had won a £1.3million jackpot that he took out bank loans to make some of the payments, Guildford Crown Court heard. Ifejika flew to Britain to complete the fraud. Mr Jones, who was paralysed in one arm after two strokes, was finally handed a silver case – full of cotton wool and paper.
A police source warned last night: “If you receive a letter or email claiming that you have won millions in a foreign lottery and it sounds too good to be true – then it is.”