Cr Peter Blackmore has sent the Mercury a copy of an email he received asking him to reveal his bank details.

He alerted the Mercury to the scam in the hope that other people in the community would become aware of it and avoid being stung.

The email claims to be from the office of the auditor general of an organisation called the ECOWAS Commission and asks the victim to hand over their bank details so $10 million American dollars can be deposited into their account.

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The scammer writes that the $10 million was from over-invoiced contract payments that needed to be deposited into a bank account outside Africa, because the Public Service Code of Conduct prohibited a public office holder from operating a foreign bank account.

It also promises the victim a 50 per cent share of the money in exchange for the use of their bank account.

“By virtue of my status as the Head of the Audit/Accounts Department, I would sincerely wish to confidentially establish an investment partnership with you prior to my retirement from public service by mid 2016,” the email notes.

“We shall discuss further details of this deal as soon as I receive your unconditional acceptance, is rest assured that this transaction is 100 per cent risk-free. 

“It is pertinent to note that this fund will be transferred to your nominated bank account without any breach of international financial law.”

Cr Blackmore said he recognised the email as a scam immediately and he had received about six such emails during the past year.

If something seems too good to be true, Cr Blackmore said, then it probably is.

“I clued into it straight away,” he said.

“It’s one of several that have been circulating over the last year or so.

“When I saw talk of investments like that from a public official I thought, ‘I certainly don’t have any investments like that’.

“But every day we see gullible people become victims.”