Over the last decades, Nigeria has gained reputation as the country of origin of advance fee fraud, in which people are approached through post or email and are lured into believing they may receive a large profit. In order to receive the promised reward, they are asked to pay fees to cover certain ‘costs’. In the end some victims loose large amounts of money before it becomes clear they have been defrauded and will not receive what has been promised to them. This type of fraud is known to have been committed from Nigeria since the 1970’s and has increased rapidly during the 1990’s, amongst others due to the upsurge of the internet. Moreover, during the course of the years its offenders have scattered over the world, defrauding victims on a global scale. Because of its rapid growth, transnational character and invisibly operating offenders, it poses great challenges to law enforcement agencies. This article tries to shed more light on the phenomenon of Nigerian advance fee fraud, its Nigerian backgrounds and upsurge in the Netherlands, the aspect of victimization, as well as the implications of these findings for police approach.