Crime & Safety
That Nigerian Email Prince Who Wanted All Of Your Money Was Just Arrested
The man behind more than $60 million worth of email scams was arrested, according to Interpol.

You probably won't be hearing again from that Nigerian prince filling your email box with pleas for your money.
Interpol announced that it has captured the ringleader behind many of these email scams, a 40-year-old Nigerian national known only as "Mike," along with one of his accomplices. In total, Mike scammed people out of more than $60 million, including one person who lost $15.4 million alone, according to Interpol.
Mike led a network of more than 40 people who ran scams around the world, including in the United States, China, Europe and Australia, Interpol said.
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He was arrested in Port Harcourt in southern Nigeria following an investigation that also included Nigerian authorities. Officials seized several of Mike's devices that linked him to the email scams, according to Interpol.
While the cons seemed silly at best, as anyone who has gotten one of the emails knows, all it took was a small handful of gullible people for Mike and his network to cash in.
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And in many cases, the cons went deeper than a simple email, according to Interpol.
In one scam, hackers would gain control of a supplier's email and contact buyers, telling them they would back out of their deal if they did not wire money to an account owned by hackers.
In another, high-level executives would be hacked, and scammers would request money from other employees with requests to wire money into hackers' accounts.
Mike and his 38-year-old accomplice were released on administrative bail and face charges of hacking, conspiracy and obtaining money under false pretenses, according to Interpol.
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