Sergeant Rod Davis said an internet scam based in Nigeria was highlighted to Stawell Police recently, when a resident fell victim to the scam.

"People really need to be careful when they are approached via the internet," Sgt Davis said.

"It usually takes the form of a person trying to befriend the owner of the internet service. The scam usually involves a hard luck story of some description, either a relative with a serious illness or requiring surgery of some kind.

"The person usually states that the person can help out with a donation. The email will look legitimate, from a hotmail account or similar. It doesn't look like it's from an overseas based account.

"They ask for money, which is then transferred from the person's bank account to an account supplied by the scammer. As a result, the scammer is provided with a number of personal details such as account name and BSB number of the person providing the money."

Sgt Davis said in the case involving the Stawell resident, the scammer approached the victim again via email, asking them to provide further identity, as well as details of their bank account so they can deposit money for 'safe keeping'. Along with this is usually an offer of a substantial percentage of those funds as a reward for allowing the scammer use of the bank account.

"It's not uncommon to hear 20 million English pounds or $150,000 US dollars offered as a reward for allowing the scammer to use the person's account to deposit money. In this case, it is rare that any such deposits will ever take place," Sgt Davis said.

"The money the scammers are depositing is often the result of them having scammed other people in Australia. The money is laundered in a sense before being claimed by the scammer, to avoid detection by the Nigerian government."

Sgt Davis said the victim from Stawell had made a deposit as requested. His account was then used to launder the other money that had been scammed. The money is then issued to Nigeria through Western Union.

"Fortunately in this case, possibly through suspicion at Australia Post who are agents for Western Union, the alarm was raised," Sgt Davis said.

"I would ask people to be very wary of being approached by anyone while on the internet, particularly people they are unfamiliar with, when they are asking for money or personal details.

"Providing the information requested can lead to catastrophic breaches of personal information. It's not limited to, but can include bank accounts, investment accounts, ATM cards and PINs, telephone and utility accounts.

"The victim (from Stawell) even provided his driver's licence and photograph to these scammers, so there is a real risk of identity fraud as well.

"While there are a number of organisations out there who can assist after the fact, I would stress that people not put themselves into a position of vulnerability by giving out personal details to anyone they don't know who may contact them over the phone or the internet.

"I would urge people who receive these emails to not respond, delete the email and contact police immediately."