(PressZoom) - Fair Trading Minister, Margaret Keech, has urged Australian Queenslanders caught up in notorious Nigerian internet scams to take advantage of the compensation scheme being offered.

Mrs Keech said that more than $300,000 had been frozen in accounts for 37 North American-based scams, and this will be repaid to victims who can show they paid into any of the scams.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, working with the Queensland Police Service and the Competition Bureau Canada, froze the funds gathered under a mass mail-out to consumers.

The Queensland Office of Fair Trading receives more than 100 complaints about Internet scams every month, with money transfer and advance fee frauds being the most common, Mrs Keech said.

Email scams usually come in as unsolicited emails offering cheap products or promises of wealth or good fortune.

With advance fee frauds, often referred to as Nigerian scams, consumers are contacted by people who say they want to share large amounts of money.

The scam operators ask for bank account details and promise to deposit money directly to the consumers account, or ask for a processing fee.

“Consumers should be wary of offers to make large sums of money quickly, pay a registration fee or suggest you use your home computer.

Mrs Keech said consumers can avoid these scammers by:

.

Consumers who can prove they paid money to one of the scams on the attached list between 1 March 2006 and 28 February 2007 can apply for a refund. Claims must be received by 30 September 2007.

Details of how to make a claim can be found on the ACCC’s web site www.accc.gov.au or the SCAMwatch website: www.scamwatch.gov.au

Media contact: Peter McCarthy 3225 1005

The identified scam promotions are:

Bank Vault
CACH
CAHCO
CAHQ - Central Asset Holding Co
CAL
Capital Award Reports ( CAP )
CAR - Cash Acquisition Resources
Cash Alert
Cashorama
CDI - Cash Directives Inc
CHP- Carter Hammond Pierce
CIDS
CPH - Corporate Prize Headquarters
CTDS-Cash Telegram Delivery Service
DC Bureau
E & S Inc - Elwood & Stanley Inc
FDF - Fitness de Fabri
FPR - Forum Prize Reports
Hemstead Rosen Cornwall ( HRC )
HGA- Hauser, Goffman & Associates
HPR-Huntington Prize Report
IEA - International Express Awards Inc
IPD - International Prize Distribution
MWAC
NAC - National Awards Commission
OUP
PAID- Platinum Awards Investigative Division Inc
Payment Reporting System ( PRS )
PGI Prize Giveaway
Prize Report Confirmation Office
PWI Prize World Inc
Release Delivered ( RDO )
Rutger, Feinstein, Rohrbach & Stern
Sentinel Marketing Group - SMG
SMH - Winners Location Corp
Transnational Awards Division ( TAD )
Worldwide Cash Registry WCR