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Internet scams, credit card fraud and money laundering coming out of Nigeria are causing big problems for the UK, according to the latest research.
Internet scams, credit card fraud and money laundering coming out of Nigeria are causing big problems for the UK, according to the latest research. The frauds are not being tackled by either the Nigerian or the UK authorities, said independent research group Chatham House said. Corruption is sneaking through the net because it is not seen in Britain as a priority problem, the report said.
"Criminal activity is carried out by a small minority of Nigerians, relative to the size of the country and the number of nationals resident in Britain or visiting it," it said.
"But the numbers of people involved are still significant and their successes reflect wider political and logistical shortcomings with the way the British authorities deal with financial crime.
"Nigeria-related financial crime has become a large and pressing problem for UK authorities."
Despite the country's booming oil industry, many Nigerians are very poor which has helped spark a series of criminal networks, the report added.
On one day in 2005 a check at Heathrow airport revealed £20m worth of forged cheques and postal orders in courier mail from the African country's capital, Lagos.
In one incident last year at a parcel centre in Coventry, customs officials seized more than £1m in cheques hidden in a single handbag sent from the country.
Meanwhile, it has been estimated Nigeria-style fee frauds, where a conman sends an email looking for help to spirit looted funds out the country, costs the UK economy £150m on each year.