A 32-year-old man has lost more than £130,000 in an internet scam involving Nigerian fraudsters, police said today.

The victim , was contacted by a man posing as a woman in the summer of 2007. They struck up a friendship and the ''woman'' began asking for money to help her sick mother.

He agreed to the requests and sent more money to pay for the funeral when he was told that the mother had passed away.

A Hampshire Police spokeswoman said: ''It eventually transpired that the woman was in fact a Nigerian man who had been lying to obtain money from the man.''

The spokeswoman explained that the victim then received further emails from someone else purporting to be another victim of the fraud as well as men who claimed to be FBI agents investigating the scam.

She added: ''The agents said they would take on the Portsmouth man's case if he would fund their trip to Nigeria and any subsequent costs they incurred, which the man agreed to.

''This went on for many months before it again transpired that the emails were fraudulent, and in fact another attempt to obtain money from the man.

''The money cannot be recovered due to the current political situation in Nigeria, resulting in a lack of co-operation from the police in the country.''

Detective Constable Jon Knox warned people to be careful when dealing with requests for money over the internet.

He said: ''This is a very sad situation, and this man has now parted with a huge sums of money through his own good nature - in trying to help others and then to recover some of what he had lost.

''We do not want anyone else to fall foul of this kind of shocking activity and I would warn anyone who is asked for money over the internet by people they do not know to refuse and not put yourself at risk.''