Police received the report Oct. 17. The person ordering the books claimed to be from Nigeria, a country authorities say is known for fraud.

"The same individual later contacted another university and requested a shipment of UAF books, also using a fraudulent credit card," Sean McGee, chief of the UAF Police Department, said in an e-mail issued to department heads Oct. 24.

Alaska Sea Grant, a marine research service at UAF, sent the $3,054 shipment to Nigeria, but later "got some of it back because they were never claimed at customs," said Douglas Schneider, a spokesman for the department.

So far the department has recovered $600 in books, leaving a loss of $2,454, he said.

"We hope to recover some of these remaining losses in the weeks ahead," Schneider said in a follow-up e-mail. "Fed Ex may reimburse shipping."

The purchaser ordered 65 copies of two books, "Forage Fishes in Marine Ecosystems," published in 1997, and "Fishery Stock Assessment Models," from 1998.

"Both books were old proceedings of scientific symposia that are not much in demand anymore," Schneider said. "We have refunded the credit card company for the loss."

Police initially declined to name the department victimized, but Schneider confirmed it was his. Although the purchaser claimed to be from Nigeria, Schneider said the person could have been from a different country, depending on how the books were routed.

Alaska Sea Grant's bookstore sells texts, videos and posters about the marine environment. Books sold at the store include educational books, species identification guides, safety and survival manuals, and fishing business guides.

"It is important to note that we processed this order properly," Schneider said. "The order did not raise any red flags because we routinely do business with legitimate book buyers, scientists, and others from many countries around the world. The credit card was legitimate, came with the three-digit verification code, and was electronically approved by the card company."

Alaska Sea Grant didn't notice a problem with the order until it received another one from the same person in Nigeria, Schneider said. Sea Grant then contacted the credit card company.

The same person then placed another order for the same books through Washington Sea Grant, which forwarded the order to UAF since the books were from its Alaskan counterpart. The department again contacted the credit card company, Schneider said.

Federal agencies won't pursue the fraud until the loss reaches hundreds of thousands of dollars, Chief McGee said. However, the police have filed a complaint with the federal Internet Crime Complaint Center, or IC3, a joint partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center.

In 2005, the IC3 processed 1,053 complaints of Internet crime.

The agency says 15.3 percent of those complaints dealt with non-delivery of merchandise or payment, and 9.6 percent were about credit card fraud.

Since January, the UAFPD has logged only one other report of credit card fraud, said Lt. Syrilyn Tong. Nigeria tends to be large fraud country, she said.

"Nigeria's the biggest scam country," Tong said. "Anyone receiving anything from any Nigerian company should be really wary about those things."

Several federal agencies also warn about the possibility of fraud involving people from Nigeria.

"Nigerian-operated scams are infamous for their cleverness and ingenuity," the U.S. State Department says on its Web site. "Scams are often initiated by credit card use, through telephone calls, from use of Internet cafes in Nigeria, and from unsolicited faxes, letters, and e-mails. No one should provide personal or financial information to unknown parties or via Nigerian telephone lines."

Alaska Sea Grant occasionally gets orders from Nigeria and has processed them without problems in the past, Schneider said. Now the department will be more watchful.

"Our policy is to now check the validity of the credit card verbally and directly with the credit card company prior to fulfilling any order from Nigeria and South Africa, another country where fraud is on the rise," Schneider said.

The moral of the story is that these types of scams can affect anyone, Schneider said.

"We were taken in because we normally do business with legitimate people from overseas," he said. "We will be even more careful in the future."