You don't think you can ever be fooled by a swindler over the Internet? After all, you're wise to the world. You made your pot of gold. You're too intelligent to be caught like all those other fools. Well, think again. It's people like you - who somehow think they are immune - that the Internet swindlers are after.

Switzerland's police latest annual report on money laundering in the country outlines some of the amazing Internet scams that have managed to fool investors in that country over the past year. Chief among these cases is the ‘Nigerian letter' case, during which, despite warnings about the scam, an investor ended up sending about $115,000 to Nigeria over a period of time, where it promptly disappeared.

Most of us know the ‘Nigerian letter' that comes via e-mail and claims to be an official from either an oil company or a government department. In some versions the sender claims to have swindled money from the oil company or from government and needs a way to dispose of it. For a cut of the proceeds, he or she wants you to put up some money to help free up the money, a portion of which will then be transferred to you.

In the case, a money transmitter, following the country's anti-money laundering procedures, asked a Swiss national why he had transferred about $100,000 to various recipients in Nigeria. The sender explained that he had invested the money into an oil company based in West Africa and that he soon expected high returns. Following a check of the documents provided by the client, the money transmitter told him he was sure he had been the victim of Nigerian swindlers.

However, refusing to believe that he could be fooled, the person was adamant in his conviction that his Nigerian ‘business partners' were not involved in a swindle. The transmitter reported the case to the money laundering reporting office, which found that the money being sent was not from a criminal source and belonged to the client. But in a bid to help the person, the money laundering office still sent a report to local police so that they could explain the fraud to him. The police also explained in detail how the swindlers worked and advised him explicitly not to send any more money to West Africa. Six months later another money transmitter reported the same Swiss national to the money laundering reporting office because he had again transferred another $38.000 to Nigeria.

“The sender was, as are most victims, fully convinced that this could never happen to him. Today he is wiser. The promised returns amounting to millions never materialised,” the annual report stated.

In another case sent to the money laundering reporting office, a financial intermediary received a call from a man claiming to have been the victim of an Internet fraud. He had been told that if he paid a large sum of money into a Swiss bank account he could easily earn as much as US$200,000 a year by working at home. The scam involved operating a so-called Internet Mall - a virtual shopping centre - from his house. The dubious Internet page looked professional and, at first glance, gave the impression that the enterprise worked closely with legitimate firms such as Amazon.com, Dell and Disney. The Swiss police subsequently found other victims of the fraud who said that the commission was never paid and the promise of a money-back guarantee was never honoured.

A look at the Rip-off Report site at www.badbusinessbureau.com, an Internet page devoted to combating fraud, shows that a large number of individuals have been caught in the Nigerian letter scam (which can claim to come from any number of West African countries) and in the Internet Mall scam. Recent reports being made to the site show that the Nigerian letter scam has become slightly more sophisticated. In this case an e-mail purports to be from an employee of the Union Bank, Plc or from a lawyer in Nigeria and is addressed using the recipient's full name.

The letter claims that the recipient had a relative who died and that he was traced via Internet so that millions held in Union Bank, a real bank, can be inherited. The letter claims that the person can pretend to be a relative of the ‘dead' person and that the account holding the millions is due to be seized by the bank because no one had claimed the money for a long time.

The recipient is slowly drawn into the scam through greed. The haste necessary because of the imminent seizure of the money helps drop his due diligence and lots of money disappears before he knows it.

Bermuda residents, due to the concentration of wealth on the Island, are a prime target for such Internet scams. Just don't get hooked through your greed the next time an e-mail arrives with tales of sudden riches.

Contact Ahmed at editor@offshoreon.com with your comments.