|
Advance fee fraud, often also known as the Nigerian money transfer fraud, Nigerian scam or 419 scam after the relevant section of the Nigerian Criminal Code [1] (http://www.nigeria-law.org/Criminal%20Code%20Act-Part%20VI%20%20to%20the%20end.htm) that it violates, is a fraudulent scheme to extract money from investors living in rich countries in Europe, Australia, or North America. Although these confidence tricks originated in Nigeria, they have since become a worldwide criminal activity that is conservatively estimated to net billions of dollars a year. They have been ongoing since at least 1989, and are carried out through the mail, fax and increasingly through e-mail spam. Originally, the schemers contacted mainly heads of companies and church officials, but private citizens are routinely targeted as well.
How the scam operates
The 'investors' are contacted, typically with an offer of the type "A rich person from the needy country needs to discreetly move money abroad, would it be possible to use your account?". The sums involved are usually in the millions of dollars, and the investor is promised a large percentage, often 40%. The proposed deal is often presented as a (harmless) white-collar crime, in order to dissuade participants from later contacting the authorities. The operation is professionally organized in Nigeria, with offices, working fax numbers, and often contacts at government offices. The investor who attempts to research the background of the offer will usually find that all pieces fit perfectly together.
If they then agree to the deal, the other side will first send several documents bearing official government stamps, seals etc., and then introduce delays, such as "in order to transmit the money, we need to bribe a bank official. Could you help us with a loan?" or "In order for you to be allowed to be a party to the transaction, you need to have holdings at a Nigerian bank of $100,000 or more" or similar. More delays and more additional costs are added, always keeping the promise of an imminent large transfer alive. Sometimes psychological pressure is added by claiming that the Nigerian side, in order to pay certain fees, had to sell all belongings and borrow money on their house.
Sometimes, victims are invited to Nigeria and get to meet real or fake government officials. Some victims that travel are instead held for ransom. In some cases they are smuggled into the country without a visa and then threatened into giving up more money, as the penalties for being in Nigeria without a visa are especially severe.
In any case, the promised money transfer never happens, of course. The money or gold does not exist.
The country involved is not always Nigeria. Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, and other West African states are sometimes seen. Occasionally the scam operates from a non-African country such as The Netherlands (Amsterdam), The United Kingdom (London), or Canada (Toronto).
A variant of the scam will appear to be sent by a barrister, representing the estate of some long-lost relative you never knew you had (your last name will be inserted into the email message) who perished along with his family in an auto or plane accident last April; the scammer will claim to have gone to a lot of trouble to find you in order to give you a share of the millions of dollars available if you'll just forward your bank account information to him.
Another variant pretends to be a "Winning Notification" from a Lottery company, typically in the UK, or The Netherlands.
- It is a Federal Crime for an United States citizen to participate in an non U.S. Lottery.
- You cannot win a Lottery that you have not entered, especially through email!
- A Legitimate Lottery would never force you to pay Advanced-Fees prior to receiving your winnings.
In a newer version of the scam, the scammer offers to buy some expensive item (which the victim advertised on eBay, for example) by official, certified, bank or cashier's check. The check will "accidentally" have a higher value than the price of the item, so the scammer asks the victim to wire the extra money to some third party as soon as the check clears. The check typically clears after one or two days, but the fact that it is counterfeit is not detected until several days or weeks later, by which time the victim has sent the item and the "additional money" to the scammer and his representative. Most banks will hold the victim accountable for the value of the counterfeit check.
The United States Federal Trade Commission has issued a Consumer Alert (http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/nigeralrt.htm) about the Nigerian scam. It says: "If you receive an offer via email from someone claiming to need your help getting money out of Nigeria - or any other country, for that matter - forward it to the FTC at uce@ftc.gov."
Consequences Some investors have hired private investigators in Nigeria or have personally travelled to Nigeria, without ever retrieving their money. One American was murdered in Nigeria while pursuing his lost money. In February 2003, a scam victim from the Czech Republic shot and killed an official at the Nigerian embassy.
Victims of 419-Advanced Fee Fraud have little recourse. Since 1995, the United States Secret Service has been (somewhat) involved in combatting these schemes, however they will not investigate unless the monetary loss is in excess of at least 50,000 US Dollars. Very few arrests and prosecutions have been made due to the international aspect of this crime.
Apparently, the scams, while usually performed by Nigerians, do not always originate in Nigeria. In 2004, 52 suspects were arrested in Amsterdam after an extensive raid. An Internet service provider had noticed the increased email traffic. However, out of these 52 none has been jailed or fined to date, due to lack of evidence. They were released in the week of 12th of July, 2004.
If you have been scammed, it is not advised that you attempt to retrieve your lost money, the chances of any money being found, or returned, is extremely remote and the inherent dangers of continued contact with these criminals are very great.
Recently, a new tier of scam-artists have risen, those that target previous victims of 419 Advanced Fee fraud by posing as Nigerian police, "Anti-Fraud Investigators" or "Fraud Recovery Experts".
Origin of the scam The origin of the 419 scam is currently debated. Many critics belive that the scam was first devised by Nigerian petroleum companies and criminal gangs in the 1970's or 1980's. The first scams involved lucrative oil contracts and other related frauds. Until about 2001, the scammers were located primarily in Lagos, Aba, and Port Harcourt, Nigeria. The scammers have recently set up bases in many countries besides Nigeria, including The Netherlands, The United Kingdom, and Canada.
Scam baiting A number of internet groups have invented the hobby of scam baiting. The object is to pretend interest in a scammer's scheme, while convincing the scammer to waste time, perform ridiculous tasks, or otherwise entertain the baiter. Some scam baiters have even got scammers to travel to another country to meet them. One scam baiter got the scammer to go to the Western Union agency to collect a nonexistant money transfer 23 times.
419eater.com is a website dedicated to scam baiting.
These scams have the weak point of having to use a working email account. Forwarding such emails to the abuse@ address of the email account can get scams shut down quickly.
If you wish to bait an e-mail scammer, be careful! Use a fake identity and a free e-mail address such as yahoo or hotmail, never give out personal details, never actually meet a scammer. Join a scam baiting website such as 419eater.com and seek help.
Sample scam letter Here is an example of a typical email message which attempts to attract victims: From: "BIBI LUCKY" <bibialora1@yahoo.com> Subject: can you? Date: Thu, 28 Mar 2002 15:03:44 +0100 To: John.Doe@somewhere.com Reply-To: bibialora1@yahoo.com Dear Sir, ASSISTANCE REQUIRED FOR ACQUISITION OF ESTATE I write to inform you of my desire to acquire estates or landed properties in your country on behalf of the Director of Contracts and Finance Allocations of the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing in Nigeria. Considering his very strategic and influential position, he would want the transaction to be as strictly confidential as possible. He further wants his identity to remain undisclosed at least for now, until the completion of the transaction. Hence our desire to have an overseas agent. I have therefore been directed to inquire if you would agree to act as our overseas agent in order to actualize this transaction. The deal, in brief, is that the funds with which we intend to carry out our proposed investments in your country is presently in a coded account at the Nigerian Apex Bank (i.e. the Central Bank of Nigeria) and we need your assistance to transfer the funds to your country in a convenient bank account that will be provided by you before we can put the funds into use in your country. For this, you shall be considered to have executed a contract for the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing in Nigeria for which payment should be effected to you by the Ministry, The contract sum of which shall run into US$26.4 Million, of which your share shall be 30% if you agree to be our overseas agent. As soon as payment is effected, and the amount mentioned above is successfully transferred into your account, we intend to use our own share in acquiring some estates abroad. For this too you shall also serve as our agent. In the light of this, I would like you to forward to me the following information: 1. Your company name and address if any 2. Your personal fax number 3. Your personal telephone number for easy communication. You are requested to communicate your acceptance of this proposal through my above stated email address after which we shall discuss in details the modalities for seeing this transaction through. Your quick response will be highly appreciated. Thank you in anticipation of your cooperation. Yours faithfully, BIBI LUCKY. Another example of a Nigerian scam email can be seen on the CIAC Hoaxbusters web site (http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/HBScams.shtml#nigerian419), run by the United States Department of Energy.
Lottery spam Lottery spam involves fake notices of lottery wins. The winner will be usually asked to send sensitive information to a free email account. This is a form of advance fee fraud as money in advance is often required and is also similar to phishing.
Fake escrow Another method is after winning a bid on items on the online auction site eBay (especially laptops or other consumer electronics), to suggest to use an escrow service. However, the escrow service is fake and part of the scam. The victim will send the laptop or camera to the escrow service, never to hear from the scammer or escrow service again. The website of the escrow service will typically go offline after the victim has sent his goods.
In one amusing case the victim knew that the supposed buyer was a scammer and scammed the scammer. The whole exchange and pictures was extensively documented on the Something Awful forums. More details here: P-P-P-Powerbook (http://easynetworknyc.com/powerbook/)
External links | 
Feeds |
Contact