A Nigerian suspected of being in charge of a network of internet scammers, stealing around $60 million, has been arrested in the oil city of Port-Harcourt.

The International Police Organization, INTERPOL, said the 40-year-old known as ‘Mike’, and a 38-year-old who was arrested with him on similar charges have, however been granted administrative bail as investigations continue.

INTERPOL alleged that  the suspects conned one of their victims into paying them $15.4 million.

The organization added that one of the main scams the 40-year-old was suspected of perpetrating was payment diversion fraud – where a supplier’s email would be hacked into and fake messages would then be sent to the buyer with instructions for payment to a bank account under the criminal’s control.

The alleged Nigerian ringleader of an online fraud network will face charges of hacking, conspiracy and obtaining money under false pretences.

The Interpol said: “The network compromised email accounts of small to medium businesses around the world, including in Australia, Canada, India, Malaysia, Romania, South Africa, Thailand and the US, with the financial victims mainly other companies dealing with these compromised accounts.”