You would think by now everyone would be aware of advanced fee frauds ? the scams where people are promised a huge reward if they send money to unlock an account.

But last month a Bermuda resident reported losing a record $3 million in just such a ruse.

It is testament to truth of the age old proverb ? ?There is one born every minute?.

No wonder the fraud squad head, Detective Inspector Robin Sherwood, is keen to warn of how the highly-addictive lures are continuing to catch people out.

He told : ?In the last month there was a case involving nearly three million dollars ? the highest we have ever had.

?It was classic advanced fee fraud and they kept going. It went over three or four years. The fraudster said they had millions of dollars but they needed money to get it out.

?The advanced fee fraud is a race, every time you get somewhere there is another hurdle.

?People keep going and going. It exhausts the victim to the point that they keep throwing money after money.

?We have a lot more victims who don?t bother to report it because it?s embarrassing.?

Various spurious fees are requested such as lawyers fees or transfer tax, he added.

?It?s a layered approach. You get sent an email. If you reply to it you get handed further up the food chain to more professional people who are more experienced at sucking you in more.?

His colleague Detective Sergeant David Geraghty said Internet-based international type scams have gone up hugely in the last two years with the E-Moo and E-Bay websites being targeted by con-artists.

Det. Sgt. Geraghty said a friend of his had been the target of a typical scam when advertising his Rolex for $6,000.

A caller said he had a cheque for $10,000 and wanted the Rolex and the change when the cheque was banked, hoping the money and watch would have been sent by the time the cheque bounced.

?But he knew straight off it was a scam.?

Detective Inspector Robin Sherwood said some of the cheques were very realistic, often appearing to be banker?s drafts.

?They have got stolen cheques from Chase Manhattan, or whoever, with the bank?s logo.?

In Bermuda fraudsters have tried to get cars, bikes, china, cameras and jewellery by this ruse.

Det. Sgt Geraghty added: ?There are hundreds of people every week getting these phone calls or emails but most people are immediately aware.

?But at least a couple of times a year we get victims losing large amounts of money.

?We had a guy who put in a bid for an item on E-Bay, someone contacted him directly and said ?I have the same item you can have for the same price ? it?s brand new?. The victim sent the money never to be seen again.?

Det. Insp. Sherwood said the Tsunami relief effort had given a new spin for the con artists.

?Whenever there is a major international event all sorts of frauds crop up around it,? he said.

?They pose as a charity and send out emails saying ?thank you for your recent donation, we now need your credit card details and we will credit you with money and you can use it to help other people?.

?A lot of people fall for it because they obviously made a recent donation off their credit card. The fraudsters have no idea whether you did or didn?t, they send out hundreds of emails.

?You would be surprised, we have really sensible people saying ?How did they get my credit card details?? You gave it to them, they were bluffing you.?

Det. Insp. Sherwood said fraudsters will model themselves on any legitimate programme.

?With high yield investments they will copy a legitimate website, set it up as their website and then it?s a fraud. They will print legitimate business audits and put them on their website.?

International fraudsters rarely send anyone to meet their victim in Bermuda but conduct the business over the Internet and collect the money via wire transfers.

He said Bermuda has a good reputation as clean jurisdiction which made criminals want to cash in by claiming their bogus reinsurance company or investment company is based here.

?It adds credibility to their claim,? he said. ?The BMA does a good job of identifying the fraudulent companies ? it posts them on its website.

?We have one running now where we think they are in Hong Kong, we don?t know where they are at but they claim to have a company domiciled here.

?One of our aims is to disrupt them, that?s of value as well.?

People targeted by suspected email scams are advised to forward them to the email provider for example abusehotmail.com or abuseyahoo.com.

This will lead to the fraudsters account being shut down and means they will have to waste time setting up another one.

Bermudians have also been targeted by the bizarre magic money scam in which the fraudsters show a suitcase of ?dollar? bills which have been blackened to allow them to be smuggled out of a country.

Victims are encouraged to pay a huge sum for a chemical solution to clean the bills which are mostly worthless paper.

Those who think such fancy schemes are so obviously fake should beware ? even investing in bricks and mortar can be a road to ruin if you are not careful.

Det. Sgt. Gereghty said: ?Property fraud in Florida is huge. It?s so easy to do over there. There are a lot of scams running out of the States.

?We are aware they advertise over here looking for people to fall into this.?

Another ruse is to call up and ask if someone has bought an item. When the person says no the fraudster asks for their credit card details so the money can be refunded.

Det. Insp. Sherwood said: ?The bottom line is you shouldn?t give your credit card details to anyone unless it is a legitimate sale.

?Your bank isn?t going to ask for your credit card details. They have them.?

Another popular one is the final notice ruse where a fraudster contacts an accounts department of a company with an urgent invoice and a threat of court action if it is not paid, said Det. Sgt. Geraghty.

?The accountant often thinks ?Oh my God, I must have missed this one and I had better pay it quickly or I will get myself in trouble?.?

Despite the international frauds, most of the unit?s work is dealing with cases generated at home with people stealing from companies, Government, trusts and financial institutions.

Typically the crimes are opportunistic rather than organised and take advantage of weak internal controls.

If you get a suspicious approach email forward it to fraudbps.bm