Beware of fraudsters stalking cyberspace! This is the warning to people by the police following the arrest of four Africans in Makkah for duping people through e-mails claiming that an African wished to donate $1 million for construction of a mosque. The e-mail, however, carried a rider that he needed some amount as service charge.

Dr. Aati Al-Qureshi, spokesman of Makkah Regional Police, said: “A Saudi citizen received an e-mail from a woman from an African country requesting him to construct a mosque in the Holy City of Makkah, for which he will be handed over a bag containing $1 million.”

“Later, a woman posing as an employee of that African country’s embassy in Riyadh called up the citizen in Makkah to inform him that an embassy employee would like to meet him to hand over the money bag. She, however, demanded SR5,000 as payment toward courier charges, and later, asked for another SR5,000 as verification charges toward bank notes,” he said, adding that the citizen became suspicious and complained to the police.

Al-Qureshi said: “Following directives from Regional Police Chief Maj. Gen. Abdulaziz Asooli, Makkah city police chief Gen. Assal Al-Qureshi formed a CID team to investigate the case, leading to the arrest of the four African citizens. They have since confessed to their crime.”

He said that the accused were referred to the Bureau of Investigation and Prosecution for further proceedings.

The police warned the people against falling into such traps where the culprits pose as charitable persons seeking donations. Such cases should be immediately be reported to the police, he said.