Amid rumours that they are about to relocate their headquarters from Dubai to Nigeria, the International Cricket Council has been forced to issue a warning about hoax emailers, after a wave of spam messages, purporting to have originated from the board, flooded the internet.

“It has been brought to our attention that there are various emails in circulation claiming to be from representatives of the International Cricket Council,” read a statement on the ICC website. “The emails ask the recipient to forward his/her personal details so that they can receive a cash prize, which the individual is told he/she has won in an online draw supported by the ICC and in connection with the ICC Champions Trophy 2009 or ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.

“Please be warned: this email is a scam,” continued the statement. “The ICC is not associated with these communications, which are fraudulent attempts to obtain personal information and possibly money. Therefore, we advise you to ignore and/or delete this email if you receive one.”