RIYADH, 18 August — More than 1,000 international companies have been engaged in systematically ripping off businesses and individual businessmen based in the six member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council, according to a report released by the GCC General Secretariat here yesterday.

The companies, which are not registered with trade authorities in the countries they profess to operate from, target unsuspecting Gulf businessmen.

The GCC chambers recently discovered 70 cases of fraud involving 50 such companies based in Nigeria, Thailand and Cote D’Ivoire, said the report.

“These international con men collect the addresses and contact numbers of Saudi and other Gulf businessmen with the sole objective of duping them,” the report cautioned.

A  Nigerian gang, for instance, sent over 2,000 letters to Gulf businessmen — including 500 to Saudis — with lucrative investment offers in a number of sectors.

Gulf businessmen and banks have lost billions of dollars to the tricksters.

The Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry said in a recent report that con men have swindled a sum of between $36 million and $1 billion from Saudi businessmen alone by offering fake deals.

However, the losses reported represent only a tiny fraction, not more than two percent, of the total money involved.

Saudi Arabia tops the list of countries targeted by the con men, and the department of public security at the Ministry of Interior has consequently issued new guidelines for Saudi businessmen traveling abroad.

They were prepared by the Ministry of Commerce and the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry, and have been published as a booklet. It contains warnings to Saudi businessmen considering entering into business deals that they should first check the credentials of their foreign counterparts.

The six Gulf states are currently working in tandem on new measures to check the growing incidence of commercial fraud.

The move, primarily intended to combat swindling and counterfeiting operations, is in line with the recommendations of a symposium organized by the GCC last year.

The commercial banks in the region have also been monitoring suspicious accounts to ascertain cases of fraud.