The syntax is tortured, the grammar mutilated, but the
message - sent by snail mail, telex, fax, or e-mail - is
coherent: an African bigwig or his heirs wish to transfer
funds amassed in years of graft and venality to a safe bank
account in the West. They seek the recipient's permission
to make use of his or her inconspicuous services for a
percentage of the loot - usually many millions of dollars.
A fee is required to expedite the proceedings, or to pay
taxes, or to bribe officials - they plausibly explain. A
recent (2005) variant involves payment with expertly
forged postal money orders for goods exported to a transit
address.
It is a scam two decades old - and it still works. In
September 2002, a bookkeeper for a Berkley, Michigan
law firm embezzled $2.1 million and wired it to various
bank accounts in South Africa and Taiwan. Other victims
were kidnapped for ransom as they traveled abroad to
collect their "share". Some never made it back. Every
year, there are 5 such murders as well as 8-10 snatchings
of American citizens alone. The usual ransom demanded
is half a million to a million dollars.
The scam is so widespread that the Nigerians saw fit to
explicitly ban it in article 419 of their penal code. The
Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo castigated the
fraudsters for inflicting "incalculable damage to Nigerian
businesses" and for "placing the entire country under
suspicion".
"Wired" quotes statistics presented at the International
Conference on Advance Fee (419) Frauds in New York on
Sept. 17, 2002:
"Roughly 1 percent of the millions of people who receive
419 e-mails and faxes are successfully scammed. Annual
losses to the scam in the United States total more than
$100 million, and law enforcement officials believe
global losses may total over $1.5 billion".
According to the "IFCC 2001 Internet Fraud Report",
published by the FBI and the National White Collar Crime
Center, Nigerian letter fraud cases amount to 15.5 percent
of all grievances. The Internet Fraud Complaint Center
refers such rip-offs to the US Secret Service. While the
median loss in all manner of Internet fraud was $435 - in
the Nigerian scam it was a staggering $5575. But only one
in ten successful crimes is reported, says the FBI's report.
The IFCC provides this advisory to potential targets:
? Be skeptical of individuals representing
themselves as Nigerian or other foreign
government officials asking for your help in
placing large sums of money in overseas bank
accounts.
? Do not believe the promise of large sums of
money for your cooperation.
? Do not give out any personal information
regarding your savings, checking, credit, or other
financial accounts.
? If you are solicited, do not respond and quickly
notify the appropriate authorities.
The "419 Coalition" is more succinct and a lot more
pessimistic:
1. "NEVER pay anything up front for ANY reason.
2. NEVER extend credit for ANY reason.
3. NEVER do ANYTHING until their check clears.
4. NEVER expect ANY help from the Nigerian
Government.
5. NEVER rely on YOUR Government to bail you
out".
The State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics
and Law Enforcement Affairs published a brochure titled
"Nigerian Advance Fee Fraud". It describes the history of
this particular type of swindle:
"AFF criminals include university-educated
professionals who are the best in the world for
nonviolent spectacular crimes. AFF letters first surfaced
in the mid-1980s around the time of the collapse of
world oil prices, which is Nigeria's main foreign
exchange earner. Some Nigerians turned to crime in
order to survive. Fraudulent schemes such as AFF
succeeded in Nigeria, because Nigerian criminals took
advantage of the fact that Nigerians speak English, the
international language of business, and the country's
vast oil wealth and natural gas reserves - ranked 13th in
the world - offer lucrative business opportunities that
attract many foreign companies and individuals".
According to London's Metropolitan Police Company
Fraud Department, potential targets in the UK and the
USA alone receive c. 1500 solicitations a week. The US
Secret Service Financial Crime Division takes in 100 calls
a day from Americans approach by the con-men. It now
acknowledges that "Nigerian organized crime rings
running fraud schemes through the mail and phone lines
are now so large, they represent a serious financial threat
to the country".
Sometimes even the stamps affixed to such letters are
forged. Nigerian postal workers are known to be in
cahoots with the fraudsters. Names and addresses are
obtained from "trade journals, business directories,
magazine and newspaper advertisements, chambers of
commerce, and the Internet".
Victims are either too intimidated to complain or else
reluctant to admit their collusion in money laundering and
fraud. Others try in vain to recoup their losses by
ploughing more money into the scheme.
Contrary to popular image, the scammers are often violent
and involved in other criminal pursuits, such as drug
trafficking, According to Nigeria's Drug Law
Enforcement Agency. The blight has spread to other
countries. Letters from Sierra Leone, Ghana, Congo,
Liberia, Togo, Ivory Coast, Benin, Burkina Faso, South
Africa, Taiwan, or even Canada, the United Kingdom,
Oman, and Vietnam are not uncommon.
The dodges fall into a few categories.
Over-invoiced contract scams involve the ostensible
transfer of amounts obtained through inflated invoices to
the bank account of an unrelated foreign firm. Contract
fraud or "trade default" is simply a bogus order
accompanied by a fraudulent bank draft (or fake postal or
other money order) for the products of an export company
accompanied by demand for "samples" and various
transaction "fees and charges".
Some of the rackets are plain outlandish. In the "wash-
wash" confidence trick people have been known to pay up
to $200,000 for a special solution to remove stains from
millions in defaced dollar notes. Others "bought" heavily
"discounted" crude oil stored in "secret" locations - or real
estate in rezoned locales. "Clearing houses" or "venture
capital organizations" claiming to act on behalf of the
Central Bank of Nigeria launder the proceeds of the
scams.
In another twist, charities, academic institutions, nonprofit
organizations, and religious groups are asked to pay the
inheritances tax on a "donation". Some "dignitaries" and
their relatives may seek to flee the country and ask the
victims to advance the bribe money in return for a
generous cut of the wealth they have stashed abroad.
"Bankers" may find inactive accounts with millions of
dollars - often in lottery winnings - waiting to be
transferred to a safe off-shore haven. Bogus jobs with
inflated wages are another ostensible way to defraud state-
owned companies - as is the sale of the target's used
vehicle to them for an extravagant price. There seems to
be no end to criminal ingenuity.
Lately, the correspondence purports to be coming from -
often white - disinterested professional third parties.
Accountants, lawyers, directors, trustees, security
personnel, or bankers pretend to be acting as fiduciaries
for the real dignitary in need of help. Less gullible victims
are subjected to plain old extortion with verbal
intimidation and stalking.
The more heightened public awareness grows with over-
exposure and the tighter the net of international
cooperation against the scam, the wilder the stories it
spawns. Letters have surfaced recently signed by dying
refugees, tsunami victims, survivors of the September 11
attacks, and serendipitous US commandos on mission in
Afghanistan.
Governments throughout the world have geared up to
protect their businessmen. The US Department of
Commerce, for instance, publishes the "World Traders
data Report", compiled by US embassy in Nigeria. It
"provides the following types of information: types of
organizations, year established, principal owners, size,
product line, and financial and trade references".
Unilateral US activity, inefficacious collaboration with the
Nigerian government some of whose officials are rumored
to be in on the deals, multilateral efforts in the framework
of the OECD and the Interpol, education and information
campaigns - nothing seems to be working.
The treatment of 419 fraudsters in Nigeria is so lenient
that, according to the "Nigeria Tribune", the United States
threatened the country with sanctions if it does not
considerably improve its record on financial crime by
November 2002. Both the US Treasury's Financial Crime
Enforcement Network (FINCEN) and the OECD's
Financial Action Task Force (FATF) had characterized
the country as "one of the worst perpetrators of financial
crimes in the world". The Nigerian central bank promises
to get to grips with this debilitating problem.
Nigerian themselves - though often victims of the scams -
take the phenomenon in stride. The Nigerian "Daily
Champion", proffered this insightful apologia on behalf of
the ruthless and merciless 419 gangs. It is worth quoting
at length:
"To eradicate the 419 scourge, leaders at all levels
should work assiduously to create employment
opportunities and people perception of the leaders as
role models. The country's very high unemployment
figure has made nonsense of the so-called democracy
dividends. Great majority of Nigerian youthful school
leaver's including University graduates, are without
visible means of livelihood... The fact remains that most
of these teeming youths cannot just watch our so-called
leaders siphon their God-given wealthy. So, they resorted
to alternative fraudulent means of livelihood called 419,
at least to be seen as have arrived... Some of these 419ers
are in the National Assembly and the State Houses of
Assembly while some surround the President and
governors across the country".
Some swindlers seek to glorify their criminal activities
with a political and historical context. The Web site of the
"419 Coalition" contains letters casting the scam as a form
of forced reparation for slavery, akin to the compensation
paid by Germany to survivors of the holocaust. The
confidence tricksters boast of defrauding the "white
civilization" and unmasking the falsity of its claims for
superiority. But a few delusional individuals aside, this is
nothing but a smokescreen.
Greed outweighs fear and avarice enmeshes people in
clearly criminal enterprises. The "victims" of advance fee
scams are rarely incognizant of their alleged role. They
knowingly and intentionally collude with self-professed
criminals to fleece governments and institutions. This is
one of the rare crimes where prey and perpetrator may
well deserve each other.