During the week of March 30, members of the state police intelligence unit got information from the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Providence office that a package bearing more than $170,000 of counterfeit cashier checks and money orders had been shipped from Nigeria and was destined for 2404 Victory Highway in Coventry.

Once the package was delivered, Detective William Accardi got a search warrant for the residence. On April 4, state and Coventry police and Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials used the search warrant and seized the original package plus more than $100,000 of additional counterfeit bank checks that were being made on a home computer, the news release says.

Detectives also seized receipts of delivered packages originating from Africa, materials and instruments used to made counterfeit cashier checks, and a mailing-labels list with people's names from throughout the United States and abroad who were intended to received the counterfeit checks.

Detectives also seized a computer, which was apparently used to communicate with people believed to be in Nigeria, who were directing and profiting from the operation.

Counterfeit fraud schemes with Nigerian ties have become more prevalent due to the ease of contacting large numbers of victims via the Internet, police said, as well as increase in sales of items on sites such as EBay.

In the latter case,sellers may receive a counterfeit cashier check or money order in payment. Individauls may also be contacted by e-mail with a sympathy story and asked to help by sending a cashier check.

State police cautioned today that to avoid falling victim to such scams, never cash a check for someone you don’t know personally, especially if solicited online.