i WANT INFORMATION ON INTERNET FRAUD IN LAGOS, NIGERIA?
May.27, 2010 in
Fraud
i WANT INFORMATION ON INTERNET FRAUD IN LAGOS, NIGERIA?
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In order to keep my other blogs on a positive note, I will post my gripe reports here.
i WANT INFORMATION ON INTERNET FRAUD IN LAGOS, NIGERIA?
May 27th, 2010 at 5:38 pm
Lagos is the internet fraud capital of the world!!
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May 27th, 2010 at 7:36 pm
What the hells the matter with you, you just asked this question not so long ago, why are you using caps, did someone take your money, boohoo ye fool, stop asking the same question, till you look at the answers to the other 1, and even then don’t post the same MSG for a few hours, and for gods sake, don’t use caps, that’s the equivalent of shouting..
R3dm0
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May 27th, 2010 at 8:39 pm
While checking the office mail you come across a poorly handwritten envelope addressed
to you (or your company) postmarked from Lagos, Nigeria. Inside, on officiallooking
stationery, is an unsolicited “confidential business proposal,” from someone
purporting to be a Nigerian civil servant. The offer states:
“Having consulted with my colleagues, and based on information gathered
from the Nigerian Chamber of Commerce, I am pleased to propose a confidential
business transaction to our mutual benefit. I and my colleagues have
in our possession instruments to transfer the sum of $35,500,000.00 into a
foreign company’s account in our favor. This amount emanated as a result
from an over-invoiced contract, executed, commissioned, and paid for about
two years ago by a foreign contractor. We are therefore seeking your assistance
in transferring this money to your account as it can only be remitted to
a foreign account, and as civil servants, we are forbidden to operate foreign
accounts. The total sum will be shared as follows:
30% for the account owner (you)
60% for us
10% to settle any incidental expenses
“We shall commence the transfer of funds immediately, as soon as you send
the following documents/information through the above fax number.
1. Four copies of your company’s letter head and
invoice papers signed and stamped
2. Your banker’s name, address and fax numbers
3. The account number and name of would be
beneficiary.
“Bear in mind that this is absolutely a private and personal deal, nonofficial;
and should be treated with all measure of secrecy and confidentiality.”
You have just received an Advance Fee Fraud (AFF) letter, also known as “419” after
the section of the Nigerian penal law that deals with this type of fraud.1
AFF letters and faxes are confidence schemes and appear as various proposals from
“officials” of Nigerian Government ministries, existing companies, or Nigerian Government
contracts. The letters and faxes contain official-looking stationery with
1The “419” penal law was revised and expanded with the issuance in April 1995, of Presidential Decree No.13 entitled
Advance Fee Fraud and other Fraud Offenses Decree 1995.
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INTRODUCTION
5
appropriate government seals, stamps, and signatures. The aforementioned AFF
letter is an example of a transfer of funds from an over-invoiced contract.
The quality of AFF letters has evolved over the years, from poorly handwritten
letters to more professional products prepared on word processors. Word processors
also allow AFF criminals to generate more letters.
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.
AFF confidence schemes are limited only by imagination, however, they usually fall
into the following categories:
• Transfer of Funds From Over-Invoiced Contracts
• Contract Fraud (C.O.D. of Goods and Services)
• Conversion of Hard Currency (Black-Money)
• Sale of Crude Oil at Below Market Prices
• Purchase of Real Estate
• Disbursement of Money from Wills (Benefactor of a Will)
• Threat Scams or Extortion
• Clearinghouse
Each of these business schemes will be discussed in detail in the section entitled
AFF Schemes: Themes and Variations.
According to the Metropolitan Police Company Fraud Department in London, some
3,000 AFF letters a week are mailed or faxed worldwide; primarily from Nigeria.
The United States and Great Britain are the recipients of over 50 percent of this
material.
To circumvent the cost of mailing the letters, these criminals will use counterfeit
stamps and forged franked stamps or possibly attempt to bribe corrupt Nigerian
Postal Service workers. It is believed that AFF letters with counterfeit stamps are
surreptitiously placed in overseas mail or delivered by hand.
Names and addresses of potential victims are obtained through various trade journals,
business directories, magazine and newspaper advertisements, chambers of
commerce, and the internet.
Actual monetary losses to AFF scams are hard to obtain. Many victims are reluctant
to come forward and report their loses in AFF scams because of fear or embarrassment.
It is estimated that AFF scams result in the loss of hundreds of millions of
dollars annually worldwide.
The U.S. Secret Service Financial Crimes Division, which receives 100 calls a day
from Americans approached or defrauded from AFF criminals, indicates 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 [United
States].”
Profits obtained in AFF are often used to support other more violent crimes such as
narcotics trafficking. In the early 1990s, Nigerian drug traffickers expanded their
operations to include AFF, which is less risky, does not require much travel, nor the
movement of contraband. According to the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency,
drugs and financial fraud are inextricably intertwined in Nigeria. Conservative estimates
indicate that about 30–40 percent of heroin that moves throughout the world is
either moved by or its movement is controlled by Nigerian criminals.
AFF has created such a negative impact on legitimate Nigerian businesses, the Nigerian
Government periodically places notices in newspapers worldwide warning
people of the fraud.
Though basically a nonviolent crime, AFF has resulted in the kidnaping or death of
foreign victims. Part of the criminal’s ruse is to have the victim travel to Nigeria
(either directly or via a bordering country) to meet a (with) Nigerian Government
“official(s)” to complete the transaction. Often, the victim is told that it is not necessary
to get a visa, or the criminals will get one for him or her.2
Once in Nigeria, these criminals will attempt to solicit more money from the victim,
either by continuing the elaborate ruse, or if that fails—physical intimidation.
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