July 20, 2005 -- In what is being called a landmark case, a Nigerian court has sentenced a woman to two and a half years in jail for fraud in a $242 million email scam case, one of the biggest in the country's history.

Amaka Anajemba was ordered to return $48.5 million to a Brazilian bank, hand over $5 million to the Nigerian government and pay a fine of $15,000, according to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

The conviction of Anajemba, one of three suspects in the case, is the first major conviction since the EFCC was formed in 2003 to crack down on Nigeria's networks of email scammers. The scammers send out emails to millions offering a share in a fortune in return for an advance fee.

The agency has arrested 200 email scammers since 2003 and has confiscated more than $200 million in property. Email scams are considered the fourth largest industry in Nigeria, after oil, natural gas, and cocoa.