International crackdown intercepts 15,000 phony checks in Africa

Nigerian anti-fraud police intercepted more than 15,000 counterfeit checks in just one month during a crackdown on cons using postal services, officials said today. Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission worked with the United States Postal Inspection Service and British investigators to sift through mail in search of fraudulent documents sent by Nigerian "advance fee" scammers. They incepted nearly 7,000 blank checks and others drawn for sums totaling almost $146 million. Investigators also found fraudulent identification and counterfeit financial instruments neatly concealed in carbon paper to evade the sensors of scanners.