W African gangs using Internet

West African organised criminals are using the Internet to obtain tens of thousands of names and addresses as targets for fraud, it emerged yesterday.

MI5 and MI6 are helping crackdown on the criminals, who are mainly Nigerian, responsible for an estimated pounds 3.5bn of fraud in the UK every year as well as drug trafficking.

The National Criminal Intelligence Service has set up a special section to combat the criminals who sent an estimated 1 million letters which seek to con individuals and companies out of money.