have written letters to Bermudians.

One man answered a letter but became suspicious after he was told to send his passport to Nigeria by Federal Express.

"This is just one more in a continuing saga that has been going on for about five years now,'' Police spokesman Sgt. Chris Wilcox said.

"Bermudians and nationals from other countries have received letters from Nigerians who have a large amount of money to invest.

"The lowest figure we have seen so far is $10 million dollars and the most we have seen is $25 million.'' The Central Bank of Nigeria took out an advertisement in the August 21st edition of USA Today to warn individuals and foreign businesses about the fraud-telefax scam.

In the advertisement, the Central Bank said that it was concerned about the reckless abandon with which the names some top central bank of Nigeria officials are used illegally to add legitimacy to the phony transactions.

The central bank advertisement was first issued in 1991 and was reissued because of the large numbers of people being duped by the scam.

And it declared that it will not bear any responsibility for any losses sustained by any person who complys with any illigitimate request.

Sgt. Wilcox said that the scam usually follows a typical line. The letter writer indicates that he has a large sum of money to invest because of over budgeting.

He said the scam artists ask people to open a bank account in their name. They say that if someone in Bermuda would oblige them they would pay handsomely.

"These are how most of the scams go. All the others are simply variations of this theme.

"The Fraud Squad in most years receive about 100 such letters on average. But this year has been a bumper year. So far they have 360 on file although 360 is nowhere near the total of letters sent.

"Only when people have brought them to us are we able to record them. There must be dozens of people who have received letters and have torn them up and thrown them in the dustbin.'' Sgt. Wilcox said he attributed the above average number of scam letters to the high number of Bermudians who answer the letters or the Nigerians have read in financial journals that Bermuda is a good, safe haven to put money into.

"It's just a scam to get money out of Nigeria. Because of the restrictions it is hard to take funds out of the country.

"Bermudians should not get involved in these scams. It may seem like an easy way to make money. To receive a letter is not an offence but if one starts complying with the instructions given by the sender of the letter they may end up committing an offence.'' "over-budgeted'' funds. the authors ask for company letterheads, signatures and account numbers of the businessmen to whom they write.