ANOTHER Bolton company is warning other firms in the area to be wary of a Nigerian e-mail scam.

An electronic message was sent to Clifford Dickinson, the managing director of Automatic Alarms Ltd of Pilkington Street, from a man claiming to be a Nigerian civil servant.

The man, Ahmed Mohamed, asked for details of a bank account in which he could deposit a surplus of "government" cash.

Mr Dickinson was promised a share in the profits which will be split three ways, with 30 per cent going to the managing director, 10 per cent to offset "local and international expenses" and 60 per cent to Mr Mohamed and his colleagues.

But alarm bells were set ringing when Mr Dickinson saw the details Mr Mohamed was asking for.

The e-mail demands the name and address of the firm's bank are sent "very urgently" to Mr Mohamed along with its telephone, fax, and telex numbers.

It also asked for Automatic Alarm's full account details and the home and office telephone numbers of Mr Dickinson.

Mr Dickinson said: "It sounds very suspect and with there being recent reports of bank scams from Nigeria, I feel companies throughout the area should be on the alert."

The BEN warned of another similar scam from Nigeria last week.

The latest message was sent from a yahoo.com e-mail address - a free account which anybody can set up by inputting a few personal details.

It is also impossible for businesses to discover whether the e-mail has really come from Nigeria and the letter lacks a personal address, prompting fears that the e-mail is being widely and automatically circulated - commonly known as "spamming" to Internet users.

Cllr Eric Johnson, the chairman of the environment and consumer sub-committee, said: "Basically if you see anything like that then screw it up and throw it away. There is no chance that you will get any cash. It's something which has been in circulation for a while and we are completely aware of it.

"The only thing that will happen is the bank details and a signature will be used to withdraw money from an account. They're not worth dealing with."

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