A Nigerian court has sentenced a woman to two-and-half-years in jail after she pleaded guilty to fraud charges in the country's biggest e-mail scam case, the anti-fraud agency said on Saturday.

Amaka Anajemba, one of three suspects in a US$242 million fraud involving a Brazilian bank, would return US$48.5 million to the bank, hand over US$5 million to the government and pay a fine of 2 million naira (US$15,000), the agency said.

Scams have become so successful in Nigeria that anti-sleaze campaigners say swindling is one of the country's main foreign exchange earners after oil, natural gas and cocoa.

Anajemba's sentencing by a Lagos High Court on Friday is the first major conviction since the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was established in 2003 to crack down on Nigeria's thriving networks of e-mail fraudsters.

The agency said in a statement that the judgment was "a landmark achievement by EFCC in the fight against advance fee fraud, corruption and other related crimes."

Typically fraudsters send out junk e-mails around the world, promising recipients a share in a fortune in return for an advance fee. Those who pay never receive the promised windfall.

Source: China Daily