Col. Amadu Abdulai, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Ghana Postal Services (GPS), has called for an immediate solution to the problem of increasing mail fraud in West Africa.

Col. Abdulai sad this at a two-day meeting organized by the GPS in collaboration with the Universal Postal Union (UPU) to find a lasting solution to the menace that has assumed an alarming rate in the sub-region.

He said the problem of mail fraud, which originated from Nigeria, has assumed very serious dimensions worldwide due to the sophistication of the fraud and it is engulfing the entire sub-region. Latest information, Col. Abdulai says, shows that the fraudsters have resorted to transferring their letters onto computer diskettes which are carried to Brazil, from where they are decoded, transcribed and transmitted in letter form. The tricksters usually obtain information about the victims from catalogues of foreign companies.

Col. Abdulai said the mail fraud known as the "419" letters are transmitted world-wide with the intention of deceiving recipients into believing that some contract work has been executed for the Nigerian government and a foreign account is needed to aid the transfer of the amounts involved. They then promise the unsuspecting recipients help once they make their account numbers available to them and a deal of huge percentages to be taken when they complete the mission.

Col. Abdulai said the writers of these letters often purported to be high-ranking officers with social distinction, give themselves grandiose titles.

He said the UPU has been very impressed by Ghana's success in managing this menace, adding that in October last year, Ghana and the US signed a memorandum of understanding under which these fraudulent letters would be intercepted and destroyed by the US Administration. He expressed the hope that a concrete solution to the problem would be achieved at the end of the meeting.