Israeli police has busted a local ring suspected of operating a wide-range scam swindling elderly U. S. citizens, local news service Ynet reported on Monday.

Ten Israelis were arrested on suspicion of being involved in the gang, known as the "Nigerian sting", which operated out of offices in Tel Aviv and bamboozled their victims into believing that they had won a lottery, said the report.

Initial probes found that during the past two years, the gang members presented themselves as American lottery workers, contacting senior U.S. citizens and informing them that they had won a prize of 500,000 U.S. dollars.

When contacting a new victim for the first time, the suspects, who claimed they were calling from inside the United States, would explain that a law firm specializing in raffles taxation would be handling the "prize," according to the report.

Then the victims would receive a second call from a fake lawyer, who would explain to them that they must pay a preliminary tax at the sum of 67,000 U.S. dollars in order to receive the prize money.

If the victims were suspicious, the suspects would come up with a sophisticated and devious idea, offering a variety of ways to receive loans on easy terms for the purpose of paying the tax.

On Sunday, Israeli authorities searched two offices in Tel Aviv and found relevant evidence of the fraud, which involved millions of U.S. dollars of filthy lucre, said the report.

A similar Israeli network operating in the very same manner was uncovered last September, reported Ynet, adding that members of the gang are currently in the process of being extradited to the United States, where they would face a maximum sentence of 20 years behind bars.

(Xinhua News Agency July 6, 2009)