Advance Fraud: The Faces Of Two Nigerian Men That Scammed Germany Government

Two Nigerian men have been arrested for allegedly scamming a German state that tried to buy 2.3m euros (£2m) of personal protective equipment (PPE).

Nigerian police say they cloned the website of a Dutch company to obtain an order from the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

When the PPE wasn't delivered as agreed, the   state government representative visited the company's offices in Netherlands.

The company then informed him that they  never discussed any business with him and there was no deal.

The state representative notified the Dutch police and investigations led to Nigeria where the two suspects were arrested in Lagos Nigeria. They are due to appear in court soon.

The suspects; Babatunde Adesanya and Akinpelu Hassan Abass, are members of a "sophisticated transnational criminal network" according  Nigerian police said in a statement.

The pair allegedly cloned the corporate website of ILBN Holdings BV in order to carry out the scam on Freiherr Fredrick Von Hahn, who represented North Rhine-Westphalia. The PPE was needed for the battle against coronavirus.

Two more arrests have also been made in the Netherlands as the duo didn't act alone.

According to Nigerian police, Mr Von Hahn was "disturbed" when the PPE did not arrive, only to find out that "the company never did business with him and that the transaction was a scam".