A Nigerian man has been jailed for four years in Hong Kong over a global e-mail scam offering a "secret fortune" of $26-million. The e-mail went around the world offering to deposit the fortune of a dead South African businessman in return for a fee of $24 000.

A report carried in the Mail & Guardian Online said Ezeh Benson Ezeyim, pleaded guilty to attempting to obtain property by deception and was jailed for four years.

 Ezeh also pleaded guilty to possession of a fake diplomatic passport and was given an 18-month concurrent sentence for the offence.

Judge Kevin Browne said Ezeh was part of an "international conspiracy" and told him: "It's abundantly clear to me you're a man who lives a life of deceit."

Police have since frozen the e-mail accounts of people suspected to have sent out e-mails offering the bogus fortune, the court heard.

17 March 2005