THE story is straight from a Tom Clancy novel. Illegal oil bunkering merchants based in Equatorial Guinea, millions of pounds abandoned in a Nigerian Bank account and a dodgy dealer from Aberdeen.

Luckily, when Joanne Smith of Chingford read the email she consigned it to the bin, but millions of people are duped by what has been dubbed the Nigerian Scam.

The unsolicited correspondence is from John Collins Ali, allegedly a foreign operations manager with an African bank, who claims that £9.3m is languishing in an account.

It belongs to Norman Anderson, from Aberdeen, who, it seems, is involved in illegal oil trades and has left a hotel in London as his address and has not been seen since 1999.

Mr Ali, who claims this is the "real deal", offers a 40 per cent stake if help is given to spirit the money out of Nigeria and into a foreign bank account.

That help involves travelling to Nigeria, pretending to be a relative of Mr Anderson. Mr Ali promises that "we will be able to quietly move the money without hitches". Without a hint of irony he goes on to ask for cooperation "devoid of greed".

Greed, though, is exactly what this scam is about.

Using the lure of large amounts of cash, which probably does not exist, the victim is urged to hand over personal details photocopies of passports, bank account details and home addresses which can be used in identity fraud.

To release the cash, advances are needed to pay taxes, bribe officials and generally oil the process and if paid are unlikely to be seen again.

The safest course of action is not to respond at all, the Metropolitan Police internet crime squad says. If the fraud originates in the UK it can be treated as a criminal offence and people should contact the local police.

The criminals usually use email addresses registered in foreign countries. The Office of Fair Trading warns that money paid out in advance is unlikely to be retrieved if lost in a scam.

A spokesman said: "It is not within our powers to get money back for people who have been cheated by these scams. We can contact partners in foreign countries and take action in foreign courts to shut down those creating these emails.

"The problem with the internet is it is easy for tricksters to hide, shut down and move."