Advance fee fraud

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An advance-fee fraud is a confidence trick in which the target is persuaded to advance relatively small sums of money in the hope of realizing a much larger gain. Among the variations on this type of scam are the Nigerian Letter (or 419 fraud) and the Spanish Prisoner.

The 419 scam originated in the early 1980s as the oil-based economy of Nigeria went downhill. Several unemployed university students first used this scam as a means of manipulating business visitors interested in shady deals in the Nigerian oil sector before targeting businessmen in the west, and later the wider population. Early variants were often sent via letter, fax, or Telex. The spread of email and easy access to email-harvesting software made the cost of sending scam letters through the Internet extremely cheap. In the 2000s, the 419 scam has spurred imitations from other locations in Africa and Eastern Europe.

The number "419" refers to the article of the Nigerian Criminal Code (part of Chapter 38: "Obtaining Property by false pretences; Cheating") dealing with fraud.[1] The American Dialect Society has traced the term "419 fraud" back to 1992.[2]

The advance-fee fraud is similar to a much older scam known as the Spanish Prisoner scam.[3] The fictitious prisoner would promise to share non-existent treasure with the person who would send them money to bribe their guards.

Insa Nolte, a lecturer of University of Birmingham's African Studies Department, stated that "The availability of e-mail helped to transform a local form of fraud into one of Nigeria's most important export industries." [4].

Contents

[edit] Implementation

This scam usually begins with a letter-form e-mail sent to many target recipients making an offer that will purportedly result in a large payoff for the intended victim. The stories behind the offers vary, but the standard plot is that a person or government entity is in possession of a large amount of money or gold. This person, for myriad reasons, either cannot access the wealth directly or is no longer in need of it. Such people, who are fictional or impersonated characters played by the scammer, could include the wife of a deposed African or Indonesian leader, a terminally ill wealthy person, a wealthy foreigner who had deposited money in the bank just before dying in a plane crash, leaving no will or known next of kin, a U.S. soldier who has stumbled upon a hidden cache of gold, a business being audited by the government, a disgruntled worker or corrupt government official who has embezzled funds, and similar characters. The money could be in the form of gold bullion, gold dust, money in a bank account, so-called "blood diamonds", a series of checks or bank drafts, and so forth. The sums involved are usually in the millions of dollars, and the investor is promised a large share, often forty percent or more, if they will assist the scam character in retrieving the money from holding and/or dispense of it according to the scam character's wishes. The proposed deal is often presented as a "harmless" white-collar crime, in order to dissuade participants from later contacting the authorities.

In plane crash scams, fraudsters often use names of real people who died in air disasters; one con man used the names of Ronald and Joyce Lake, victims of Alaska Airlines Flight 261, in a scam letter received by Seattle Post-Intelligencer staff member Phuong Cat Le. [5]

Many operations are professionally organized in Nigeria, with offices, working fax numbers, and often contacts at government offices. The victim who attempts to research the background of the offer will often find that all pieces fit perfectly together. Such scammers can often lure wealthy investors, investment groups, or other business entities into scams resulting in multi-million dollar losses. However, many scammers are part of less organized gangs or are operating independently; such scammers have reduced access to the above connections and thus have little success with wealthier investors or business entities attempting to research them, but are still convincing to middle-class individuals and small businesses, and can bilk hundreds of thousands of dollars from such victims.

If the victim agrees to the deal, the other side will first send several documents bearing official government stamps, seals etc. (some of these documents will be more convincing than others), and then introduce a delay or monetary hurdle that prevents the deal from occurring as planned, 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, convincing the victim that the money they are currently paying will be covered several times over by the payoff. 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, or by pointing out the different salary scale and living conditions in Africa compared to the West. Much of the time, however, the needed psychological pressure is self-applied; once the victims have put money in toward the payoff, they feel they have a vested interest in seeing the "deal" through.

In any case, the promised money transfer never happens. The money or gold does not exist, and by the time the victim realizes this (often only after being confronted by a third party who has noticed the transactions or conversation and recognized the scam), they may have sent thousands of dollars of their own money, and sometimes thousands or millions more that has been borrowed or stolen, to the scammer.

The spam e-mails perpetrating these scams are often sent from Internet cafes equipped with satellite Internet. Recipient addresses and email content are copied and pasted into a webmail interface using a standalone storage medium, such as a memory card. Many areas of Lagos, such as Festac, contain many shady cybercafes that serve scammers; many cybercafes seal their doors during afterhours, such as from 10:30 PM to 7:00 AM, so that scammers inside may work without fear of discovery[6].

Nigeria also contains many businesses that provide false documents used in scams; after a scam involving a forged signature of Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo in summer 2005, Nigerian authorities raided a market in the Oluwole section of Lagos. The police seized thousands of Nigerian and non-Nigerian passports, 10,000 blank British Airways boarding passes, 10,000 United States money orders, customs documents, false university certificates, 500 printing plates, and 500 computers[6].

Some London-based gangs have been known to use spamware on laptops which they surreptitiously connect to the cafe's network, but even this software is notably out-of-date. While this method is significantly more labour-intensive per mail sent than others, it offers near-total anonymity and allows them to very quickly and easily relocate. The often very professional layout of web pages and so on used in the scams suggests that they do not lack technical sophistication.

Scammers often request that payments be made using a wire transfer service like Western Union. The reason given by the scammer will usually relate to the speed at which the payment can be received and processed, allowing quick release of the supposed payoff. The real reason is that wire transfers and similar methods of payment are irreversible, untraceable and, because identification beyond knowledge of the details of the transaction is often not required, completely anonymous.

[edit] Variants

[edit] Fake checks and check cashing scams

Fraudulent checks and money orders are key elements in many advance fee scams, such as auction/classified listing overpayment, lottery scams, inheritance scams, etc, and can be used in almost any scam when a "payment" to the victim is required to gain, regain or further solidify the victims' trust and confidence in the validity of the scheme.

The use of checks in a scam hinges on a U.S. law (and common practice in other countries) concerning checks; when an account holder presents a check for deposit or to cash, the bank must (or in other countries, usually) make the funds available to the account holder within 1-5 business days, regardless of how long it actually takes for the check to clear and funds to be transferred from the issuing bank[7]. The check clearing process normally takes 7-10 days and can in fact take up to a month when dealing with foreign banks. The time between the funds appearing as available to the account holder and the check clearing is known as the "float", during which time the bank could technically be said to have floated a loan to the account holder to be covered with the funds from the bank clearing the check.

The check given to the victim is typically counterfeit but drawn on a real account with real funds in it. With a piece of software like QuickBooks or pre-printed blank check stock, using the correct banking information, the scammer can easily print a check that is absolutely genuine-looking, passes all counterfeit tests, and may even clear the paying account if the account information is accurate and the funds are available; however, whether it clears or not, it will eventually become apparent either to the bank or the account holder that the check is a forgery. This can be as little as 3 days after the funds are available if the bank supposedly covering the check discovers the check information is invalid, or it could take months for a business or individual to notice the fraudulent draft on their account. It has been suggested that in some cases the check IS genuine - however the fraudster has a friend (or bribes an official) at the paying bank to CLAIM it is a fake weeks or even months later when the physical check arrives back at the paying bank.

Regardless of the amount of time involved, once the cashing bank is alerted that the check is fraudulent, the transaction is reversed and the money removed from the victim's account. In many cases, this puts victims in debt to their banks as the victim has usually sent a large portion of the check by some non-reversible 'wire transfer' means (typically Western Union) to the scammer. Some victims have even been prosecuted for fraud in the scammer's stead, the argument being that the victim "should have known better" than to participate in such a scheme, and thus was a willing conspirator in the fraud.

Some schemes are based solely on check cashing. The scammer will contact the victim to interest them in a "work-at-home" opportunity, or asking them to cash a check or money order that for some reason cannot be redeemed locally. A recently-used cover story is that the scammer wishes the mark to work as a "mystery shopper", evaluating the service provided by MoneyGram or Western Union locations within major retailers such as Wal-Mart [8]. The scammer sends the victim a check or money order, the victim cashes it, sends the cash to the scammer, and the scammer disappears. Schemes based solely on check cashing will usually offer only a small part of the check's total amount, with the assurance that many more checks will follow; if the victim buys in to the scam and cashes all the checks, the scammer can win big in a very short period of time. Other scams such as overpayment usually result in smaller payoffs for the scammer, but have a higher success rate as the scammer's request seems more believable.

Some check-cashing scammers involve multiple victims at multiple stages of the scam. A victim in the U.S. or other "safe" country such as the U.K. or Canada (often the country in which the cashing victim resides) is sometimes approached with an offer to fill out checks sent to them by the scammer and mail them to other victims who will cash the check and wire the money to the scammer. The check mailer is usually promised a cut of the money from the scammer; this usually never occurs, and in fact the check mailer is often conned into paying for the production and shipping costs of the checks. The check information has either been stolen or fictionalized and the checks forged. The victim mailing the check is usually far easier to track (and prosecute) than the scammer, so when the checks turn up as fraudulent, the one mailing them usually ends up not only facing federal bank fraud and conspiracy charges, but liability for the full amount of the fraudulent checks. Because the check mailer is taking the fall, the scammer is even less likely to be caught, which makes it a popular variation of the scam for scammers in nations with tougher anti-fraud laws and better enforcement than that of Nigeria.

[edit] Shipping/Receiving Scam with Variant Pet Adoption

Variant of a money scam using pet adoptions, person will respond to an advertisement for a pet. The buyer will then want to immediately make arrangements to receive/ship the pet (notice how they don't even ask to see pictures of the pet, or ask for health/vet questions about the pet). Buyer will ask seller to use their pet shipping service and even give a number. Buyer will also want to send a money order or cashiers check through Western Union (another variant of the Western Union check scam). Once the seller receives payment, cashes the check and/or money order, the seller then sends the money to the fake shipping service. Once money is received the buyer will claim they changed their mind and want their money back, or buyer will say he doesn't want the pet any longer. Within 5 days the check or money order comes back as bad and the seller is responsible for covering the bad check.

Another angle used by the buyer, is the buyer will threaten the seller to send his/her money back, in good faith the seller does. Within a few days the check or money order is bad/canceled the buyer has the money you sent him/her plus the fake shipping company has already sent the cashed check/money order to the original buyer, if the original buyer is not operating the shipping company out of their home. [9] [10]

[edit] Hacked E-mail

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Scammers have been known to break into an e-mail account, change the password (thereby locking out the legitimate user) and then send a letter titled "Emergency" to everyone in the e-mail list, purporting to come from the person whose e-mail address it is. The letter says that the person went to Nigeria for some charitable purpose, but had all his or her stuff stolen, and now desperately needs money to be sent to them so they can get a ticket back. The money (which can be thousands of dollars) is to be sent by Moneygram to a person in Lagos. In some case, the signature line is retained to give apparent legitimacy.

[edit] Fake Web sites

Though 419 scams are often perpetrated by e-mail alone, some scammers enhance the believability of their offer through the use of a sham website. Such websites can imitate real sites such as eBay, PayPal or a banking site like Bank Of America for the purposes of phishing, while others are totally fictional and used to lend credibility to a scammer's story. One example is a security e-mail, like from PayPal for example, claiming that an individual has attempted to log into a victim's account, and that immediate action is needed or the account will be terminated. The mail will usually include a hyperlink that is the address for the real website, but is set to open a different address when clicked on. The scammer will count on the victim to click on the hyperlink instead of typing it, which will then re-direct the victim to a fraudulent page. Another good example is that a scammer may create a website for a fictional bank, then give the victim details to login to the site, where the victim then sees the money that the scammer has promised sitting in the account. The victim is then more likely to believe the scammer and send the requested advance payments. Fake websites are the centerpiece of false online storefront scams.

Another twist on scamming involves providing links to real news sites covering events the scammer says are relevant to the transaction they propose. For instance, a scammer may use news of the death of a prominent government official as a backstory for a scam involving getting millions of dollars of the slain official's money out of the country. These are real websites covering legitimate news, but the scammer is usually not connected in any way with the events reported, and is simply using the story to gain the victim's sympathy.

Yet another, more elaborate, form of scams involving fake websites was to actually copy a real, well-known website, use it on a different domain name and try to fool people. This is the case of Royal Dutch Shell, whose website was copied by Nigerian scammers: Fake Shell Nigeria website

[edit] Invitation to visit the country

Sometimes, victims are invited to a country to meet real or fake government officials. Some victims who do travel are instead held for ransom. In some rumored cases they are smuggled into the country without a visa and then threatened into giving up more money, as the penalties for being in a foreign country without a visa are severe. In one case, at least, the victim was murdered.[11]

[edit] IP Relay

Many scams involve telephone calls to convince the victim that the person on the other end of the deal is a real person and telling the truth. The scammer, possibly impersonating a U.S. citizen or other person of a nationality - or even gender - other than his/her own, would cause suspicion by placing an ordinary voice call to the victim. In these cases, scammers use IP Relay, a US federally funded internet relay service where an operator or a text/speech translation program acts as an intermediary between someone using an ordinary telephone and a deaf caller using TDD or other TeleType device. The scammer says they are deaf, and a phone call would require use of IP Relay. The victim, possibly drawn in by a sense of sympathy for the scammer at this disability, agrees to the arrangement.

Because of current FCC regulations and confidentiality laws, operators are required to relay every call verbatim and must adhere to a strict code of confidentiality and ethics. Thus no relay operator is permitted to make judgements about the legality and/or legitimacy of any relay call and must relay the call without interference. As such, the relay operator cannot warn victims even when they suspect that the call is a scam; some sources claim that up to half of all IP Relay calls are scams.[12]

IP Relay is sometimes used to relay credit card information for the purposes of making a fraudulent purchase with a stolen credit card. In many cases however, it is simply a means for the scammer to further lure the victim into the scam.

[edit] Romance angle

Main article: Romance scam

A recent variant is the "Romance Scam" which is a money-for-romance angle. The victim is usually approached on an online dating service, on an Instant messenger (like Yahoo IM) or as has recently begun to occur social networking sites and they claim to have becomes interested in someone. They have pictures posted of an attractive person who is not actually the poster. The offending party may claim to be interested in meeting the victim, but needs some cash up front in order to book the plane, hotel room, and other expenses. In other cases, they may claim they're trapped in a foreign country and need assistance to return, to escape imprisonment by corrupt local officials, to pay for medical expenses due to an illness contracted abroad, and so on. As with other variants, the money is usually requested to be sent via Western Union, and the scammer always seems to come up with additional reasons for requesting more funds. They may involve a third party involved to "assist" in getting the money. If the money is not received they may emotionally manipulate the victim to secure it. In another variant which is a cross over with the original Nigerian scam they claim to have money in a secret account that they can't access and ask the victim for their bank details so they can send it to them. This type of scam also frequently originates in Russia[13] or with people claiming to be in Ukraine[14] as well as Nigeria.[15]

[edit] Friendship/business partner/wash wash money angle

Another variant is where the victim is targeted by a true friendship. This is where the thieves/scammer will gain the trust of the victim face to face & develop a rapport over several months to a year. The scammer is usually a work colleague or a regular customer in a business premises. The scammer will then propose a business venture, be it cars, electronic goods or money tied up somewhere story. The victim then parts with amounts of cash. The scammer then integrates the wash wash money angle (where black pieces of paper are said to be money, which they make a story about need chemicals for processing) In the end the scammer leaves the victim with pieces of black paper cut to the size of banknotes and the scammer leaves the place of employment & flees with the money. The thieves have fake ID's/ documents/ EU passports & originate from Cameroon, Nigeria, Zimbabwe.

[edit] False 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. The escrow service is fraudulent 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. Some scammers send e-mails masquerading as official e-mails from PayPal to convince the victim that the escrow method is perfectly normal procedure; some of the e-mails contain spelling errors. Some of these false e-mails will claim that PayPal itself is an escrow service and that the buyer has already sent funds which would be "unlocked" once a tracking number has been sent. However, PayPal is not an escrow service and any PayPal payments should apppear instantly to the seller.

A variation of this scam is to adopt a more personal approach. The "buyer" bids for and wins the item on sale, only to then claim that it is actually to be a gift for a relative in Nigeria and asks for it to be sent direct there, even if the seller has specified that he or she will ship only within his or her own country. In order to facilitate the scam, the fraudulent buyer will often create a brand new legitimate eBay user account complete with a false address that is apparently in the seller's home country, but which will not pass any kind of real inspection as the scammer will often create errors with the spelling, geography or postal code formats. As with escrow scams, the eBay ID will disappear as soon as the victim has sent the goods, and the scammers tend to target inexperienced first time, private sellers. In other cases, the fradulent buyer will hijack the existing account of a legitimate user through methods such as phishing. Once this account is compromised, it is used to purchase several items with the appearance of a high feedback buyer. In many situations the fradulent buyer will then give an alternate address for the items to be shipped such as to Nigeria.

[edit] Hitman

An e-mail is sent to the victim's inbox, supposedly from a hitman who has been hired by a "close friend" of the recipient to kill him/her, but will call off the hit in exchange for a large sum of money. This is usually backed up with a warning not to contact the local police or FBI, or the "hitman" will be forced to go through with the plan.[16] [17] Technically an extortion scam, it is however perpetrated by the same criminal groups that employ other advance fee fraud schemes, and the "payoff" could be construed to be the victim's life. In a common twist, after initial payments the hitman will offer to instead kill the person who originally ordered the hit, or a second hitman will contact the victim and offer to kill the first. The victim may agree and pay for the hit, thinking the problem will go away, but the scammer will often use these plot twists to extort even more money by playing both hitmen, or the hitman and the unseen contractor, against the victim.

[edit] Bomb scams

Related to the hitman scam and other extortion scams, the scammer will contact a business, mall, office building or other commercial location with a bomb threat. The scammer says they will detonate the bomb unless the management of the business does as the scammer tells them. Often, the scammer says that they have the store under surveillance; however, analysis of the calls by police have established that the vast majority of threat calls are made from other states or even from outside the country. Some evidence exists that points to the scammers hacking into the store's surveillance network, but this has not been confirmed in any case and has been refuted in others.[18] The scammer usually demands that the store management or people in the headquarters office of the store (if the store is a chain) send money via wire transfer to the scammer to spare the store and the people in it. Other demands of these scammers have been more personal and humiliating, such as demanding that everyone in the store disrobe.

Because the underlying threat in the scam is a bomb threat, local law enforcement very quickly responds to the site under threat; however, because the scammer is usually nowhere near this location, the scammer is in little if any danger of being apprehended while the scam is playing out. Law enforcement, in the meantime, cannot assume the threat is anything but genuine, and therefore can do little to intervene without risking the detonation of the bomb. The fact that the threat was in reality a scam has usually not been discovered until long after the situation is over.

[edit] eBay seller scam

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This scam involves eBay or Craigslist and the appeal of high priced goods, usually electronics, for a bargain price. A seller will advertise an item (usually a digital camera, laptop computer, plasma TV, video game console, or cell phone) at a very low cost (usually about 1/3 of the normal retail price). The body of the ad instructs buyers to contact the seller directly outside of eBay using a Yahoo or Hotmail web-based free e-mail account. When contact is made, the seller gives a long story about his problems receiving payment by Paypal - eBay's payment arm. The seller insists that the buyer send money by Western Union. The allure is that the product is a huge bargain (e.g. a $2000 item for only $700). If money is sent, it is gone forever and no product is ever delivered. The phony seller usually has a list of prepared e-mails to respond quickly to questions from buyers. He'll go on and on about how his integrity is important, how he wouldn't risk his family's name, his legitimacy, check his feedback, etc. The phony seller sometimes boosts credibility by using a real eBay ID to list the item. The real ID has been stolen from a legitimate seller with good feedback, usually by means of e-mail phishing.

[edit] False online storefront scam

This is highly related in both form and function to the eBay/Craigslist seller scam, but is older; online storefront scams are as old as e-commerce, and the brick-and-mortar storefront scam is timeless. A website is set up offering too-good-to-be-true prices on popular goods (usually electronic goods such as laptop computers, digital cameras, video game consoles, and cell phones). For an undisclosed reason, payments can not be made using credit cards, money orders, cashier checks, or even wire transfers, but only via untraceable means such as Western Union, Moneygram, or e-gold. The buyer pays the money, but never receives the goods, and is unable to reverse the transaction or sue the recipient. The originators of these scams are usually in Lagos, Nigeria.

[edit] Lottery scam

Main article: Lottery scam

The lottery scam involves fake notices of lottery wins. The winner will usually be asked to send sensitive information to a free email account. The scammer will then notify the victim that in order to release the funds, some small fee (insurance, registration, shipping etc.) is required. Once the fee has been sent, the scammer will invent another fee and attempt to collect it. While the advance fee fraud is playing out, the personal information gathered by the original e-mail will also be sold and can sometimes be used to drain bank accounts or lines of credit.

Much like the Auction overpayment fraud detailed above, a new variant of the lottery scam involves fake or stolen checks being sent to the 'winner' of the lottery (these checks representing a part payment of the winnings). The winner will then be more likely to assume that the win is legitimate and subsequently more likely to send the fee (which he does not realize is an advance fee). The check, and associated funds, will then be flagged by the bank when the fraud is discovered and debited from the victim's account.

[edit] Stranded missionary scam

Similar to many romance scams, a priest from the United States is on a mission in Nigeria, and requires money from the victim to buy a return plane ticket. Alternately, the missionary wants the mark to cash money orders (counterfeit) and send the money via MoneyGram or Western Union so he can buy his plane ticket back to the United States. He has lost his wallet, so he cannot purchase them himself. He wants the victim to keep 5% of the money, so it doesn't seem like a bad idea to help him out. The counterfeit money orders will indeed be accepted at the bank and a Nigerian will call the mark to make sure he/she sends the money before the bank returns the money orders as counterfeit. Due to a bank law that promotes convenient banking, the bank is allowed (in fact, required) to extend the funds before the money is received from the issuing institution, and since the mark signs the money orders they are responsible for the funds in question.

[edit] Tutor scams

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In this variation the scammer responds to an ad placed by a tutor-for-hire, such as a music instructor or ESL (English as a Second Language) tutor, explaining his need for a tutor for his child who will soon be relocating to the tutor's area. Often the scammer will want a suspiciously high amount of instruction for his child and will of course want to pay for multiple weeks of instruction in advance via money order or cashier's check. The scammer requests a very specific list of information, such as the tutor's full name, address, city, state, zip, phone number, years of tutoring experience, and hourly fee in the first or second email. The rest of the scam is the same as other fake check/wire transfer scams, where a fake check or money order for more than the agreed price is sent to the victim, then the scammer requests that the victim wire the balance back to him or someone to whom he owes a debt. The scammer may say that a third party (e.g., someone who resides in the tutor's area) will be sending the tutor the check or money order. If the tutor is accustomed to having students pay in advance, the emails to this point may seem legitimate. The dead giveaway is when the scammer absolutely insists upon sending a check for a significantly greater sum of money than would actually be owed the tutor and asks the tutor to wire the remaining funds elsewhere. If the scammer is a non-native English speaker, it may be particularly difficult for the victim to figure out what's going on, as s/he may write off an aggressive tone or odd-sounding requests as being the result of a language barrier or cultural differences.

[edit] Bogus Employment Advertisements

This variant of the scam usually involves the placing of an employment advertisement with extremely attractive terms and conditions. [19] English Teachers are particular targets of this type of fraud as these applicants will generally be seeking employment in foreign countries. Generally after the applicants have been "accepted" they will be asked to pay a fee either to process a visa or as a deposit on accommodation. Often the supposed schools will have a fake web page but will be unlisted in either the local phone book or with the relevant education ministry.

Scammers also claim to represent large companies such as Shell Oil, sending out thousands of emails offering employment opportunities. Again, they ask for fees for non-existent visas and travel documents. Shell has published a warning on its website about this particular scam: http://www.shell.com/home/content/careers-en/news_events/news/important_notice_0608.html

[edit] Escort scams

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In this variant of a classified advertisement scam, a scammer answers an online escort advertisement, typically posing as a wealthy businessman traveling from Nigeria or London to the escort's city of residence. The scammer contacts an escort claiming to be interested in a long-term companionship arrangement of days or even weeks in length, the total time involved totalling to a substantial sum of money. The scammer offers to pay in advance by cheque in excess of the net payment and asks for remittance of the balance. This version is especially popular as escorts in many cases cannot safely contact legal authorities for any reason and are unlikely to report successful or attempted fraud. A variant of the escort scam involves translators and interpreters who are asked to escort a businessman or his family for a few days.

[edit] Rental scams

Where the victim (e.g., a prospective tenant) is looking to rent accommodation, the scammer will post a classified advertisement offering a high-standard place for a low cost, even showing pictures of the said rooms. The victim is required to pay a deposit, but once the scammer has received the deposit he will disappear leaving the victim out-of-pocket[20].

Where the victim (e.g., landlord) is looking to find a tenant for their accommodation, the scammer poses as an interested party who is looking to move to said location. On inquiry to the prospective tenant, the victim receives a follow up e-mail indicating they will be sent a cheque by the tenant's new employer that will cover the rent, plus the new tenant's living expenses (e.g., to purchase furniture). The victim is asked to forward the additional portion to their new tenant by Western Union (or similar)[21].

Where the victim posts on a communal website (e.g. Craigslist) that he/she is looking for a roommate to share a rental unit (or is a landlord looking to rent a unit), and the scammer poses as an interested party and sends a check to hold the room. The check will originate from overseas. The victim receives the check and desposits it into his/her bank account, and that amount of money will temporarily appear as having been added in. Within a few days the scammer then contacts the victim and advises that he/she cannot move into the rental unit due to an illness. The scammer will even provide what appears to be medical documents indicating this state of ill health. The scammer then asks the victim to immediately wire transfer the money from the check back to him/her. This takes place, and then a few days later the victim finds out from his/her bank that the original check has bounced.

[edit] Puppy/pet scam

Much like the other scams detailed here this involves the promise of an item when all the necessary fees have been advanced. Adverts are taken out by someone who is claiming they are the breeder of puppies they sold and they are not doing well in their current situation. The owner claims to be looking for someone to adopt them back. They also claim to work as a missionary or for the United Nations. The advance fees in this case being for the purchase of the animal and 'customs' charges that will never end.

[edit] Begging scams

In these scams, the scammer will pose as a terminally ill mother, poor college student, or other down-on-their-luck person and ask for money for college tuition, to sponsor their children, or a similar ruse. The money, they say, will be repaid plus interest by some third party at a later date (often these third parties are some fictitious agency of the Nigerian government, or the scammer themself once a payment from someone else is made available to them). Once the victim starts paying money to the scammer, the scammer will tell the victim that additional money is needed for unforeseen expenses, similar to the puppy scam above; In the case of the ill mother, the children will fall ill as well and require money for a doctor's care and medicine (many scammers go as far as to say that as the sponsor of the children, the victim is legally liable for such costs), where the student might claim that a dormitory fire destroyed everything they own.

[edit] Charity scams

The scammer poses as a charitable organization soliciting donations to help the victims of a natural disaster, terrorist attack (such as the Sept. 11 World Trade Center attack), regional conflict, or epidemic. Hurricane Katrina and the 2004 tsunami were popular targets of scammers perpetrating charity scams; other more timeless scam charities purport to be raising money for cancer, AIDS or Ebola virus research, or impersonate charities such as the Red Cross or United Way. The scammer asks for donations, often linking to online news articles to strengthen their story of a funds drive. Also similar to begging scams, the scammer's victims are charitable people who believe they are helping a worthy cause and expect nothing in return. Once sent, the money is gone and the scammer often disappears, though many will attempt to keep the scam going by asking for a series of payments. The victim may sometimes find themselves in legal trouble after deducting their supposed donations from their income taxes. U.S. tax law states that charitable donations are only deductible if made to a qualified non-profit organization[22]. The scammer may tell the victim their donation is deductible and provide all necessary proof of donation, but the information provided by the scammer is fictional, and if audited, the victim faces stiff penalties as a result of the fraud. Though these scams have some of the highest success rates especially following a major disaster, and are employed by scammers all over the world, the average loss per victim is less than other fraud schemes. This is because, unlike scams involving a large expected payoff, the victim is far less likely to borrow money to donate or donate more than they can spare.
Image:DeathLetterScam.jpg
An example of a "death in the family" letter scam.

[edit] Death in the family scams

These scams prey on families who have lost loved ones, or who have not been in touch with a loved one for some time. The scammer will obtain obituary information from city morgues, news of a death where the victim has not yet been identified, and/or personal information about a missing person. The scammer will contact victims saying that their loved one has passed away, and the victim is required to pay final medical costs or fees for the release of the body. The scammer may also say that the victim, as the next of kin, is liable for debts incurred by the deceased. This is often a highly personalized scam, but using news of an unidentified victim and a mass e-mail, the scammer can often lure victims who have loved ones in the same city whom the victim cannot get in touch with. The scam's operation is more of an extortion, however the "payoff" could be considered to be the remains of the deceased, and the groups that perpetrate these scams are alleged to be the same groups that perpetrate other advance fee frauds. This scam has also been attempted on families of soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan by scammers claiming to be agents of the United States Army.

[edit] Fraud recovery scams

This variant targets former victims of scams. The scammer contacts the victim saying that their organization can track and apprehend the scammer and recover the money lost by the victim, for a price. Alternatively, the scammer may say that a fund has been set up by the Nigerian government to compensate victims of 419 fraud, and all that is required is proof of loss (which usually includes personal information) and a processing and handling fee to release the amount of the claim. The scammer is counting on the victim's dire need to recover their lost money, as well as the fact that they have fallen victim before and are therefore susceptible to such scams. Often, these scams are perpetrated by the same scammer who conned the victim in the first place, as an attempt to ensure the scammer gets every penny possible from the victim. Sometimes the scammer impersonates the foremost "fraud related crime-fighters" in Nigeria, the EFCC (Economic and Financial Crimes Commission), which not only adds credibility to the scam, but tarnishes the reputation of the EFCC once this second scam is discovered.

[edit] Childcare scams

This variant targets in-home childcare providers and daycare centers with ads on www.craigslist.org and other community ad web interfaces. The scammer contacts the victim saying that they need you to care for their child and are cunning in suggesting that they will send pictures of the child after they hear pricing info and secure a childcare provider for the child. They will give you a name of the child, what they like to do, eat etc and say they need to come to the United States for a short period of time in the near future. The scammer then tells the victim that they want to arrange care ahead of time via email so that their child has care set up before they get there. The scammer asks you to provide a price for watching the "child" and asks you to email your information such as your full name, home address, and telephone number so they can send payment ahead of time to show "how serious they are" about needing the childcare set up as soon as possible. Once the victim replies with their rate and information, the scammer says they will send a cashier or money order check for the services ahead of time to show again "how serious they are" and to hold it in your account as a deposit until they arrive in the States. The scammer then says the funds will be sent by their employer for a large sum of money as the company is paying for the childcare as part of the compensation agreement and they are trusting you with their compensation. In one such scam, the scammer says that the check will come from a film production company in the form of a money order or cashiers check as they are an actress/model from West Africa and will be in the US to work on a one month assignment. Scammer will even name drop a company or designer such as "Issey Miyake". The scammer tells you to deposit the large check from the employer made out for the total sum of their "compensation" and deduct your fee for the childcare and as well as any expenses and deposits needed for your services from the large sum of deposited cash to keep for yourself. The scammer asks you to wire transfer the remainder of the money back to them so that they may make arrangements for themselves and their child (such as flight tickets, hotel, etc) and have immediate access to their compensation to plan their trip. Scammer then tells you to deduct the wire transfer expenses from this amount for you to keep as repayment for the service. Obviously, once the deposit of the large (fraudulent) check is completed and the wire transfer of the remaining funds is handled, the check bounces and your money is gone.

[edit] Consequences

[edit] Monetary loss estimates

Estimates of the total losses due to the scam vary widely. The Snopes website lists the following estimate:

“ The Nigerian scam is hugely successful. According to a 1997 newspaper article: “We have confirmed losses just in the United States of over $100 million in the last 15 months,” said Special Agent James Caldwell, of the Secret Service financial crimes division. “And that's just the ones we know of. We figure a lot of people don't report them.”[23] ”

Although the "success rate" of the scam is hard to gauge, some experienced 419 scammers get one or two interested replies for every thousand messages. It is claimed that an experienced scammer can expect to make several thousand dollars per month.[24]

Ultrascan Advanced Global Investigations, a Netherlands-based firm which has been studying 419 matters since the mid-1990s, has prepared a table quantifying 419 operations by country for 2005 and 2006. These stats are based on Ultrascan's in-house investigations and include, by nation: number of 419 rings; number of 419ers; income of the 419ers (the amount of losses by victims to the 419ers); and additional data. 419 Coalition view is that these stats present a reasonably conservative and realistic look at the extent and magnitude of 419 criminal operations worldwide.

Since 1995, the United States Secret Service has been involved in combating these schemes. The organization will not investigate unless the monetary loss is in excess of fifty thousand US Dollars. However, very few arrests and prosecutions have been made due to the international aspect of this crime.

In 2006, a report by a research group concluded that Internet scams in which criminals use information they trick from gullible victims and commonly strip their bank accounts cost the UK economy £150 million per year, with the average victim losing £31,000.[25]

[edit] Physical harm or death

  • Some victims have hired private investigators in Nigeria or have personally travelled to Nigeria, without ever retrieving their money. There are cases of victims being unable to cope with the losses and committing suicide.[26]
  • In February 2003, a 72 year-old scam victim from the Czech Republic shot and killed 50-year old Michael Lekara Wayid, an official at the Nigerian embassy in Prague, and injured another person.[10][27][28][29]
  • Leslie Fountain, a senior technician at Anglia Polytechnic University in England, set himself on fire after falling victim to a scam; Fountain died of his injuries.[30]

[edit] Kidnapping

[edit] Murder

  • 29-year old George Makronalli, a Greek man, was murdered in South Africa in December 2004 after responding to a 419 scam.[11]
  • Kjetil Moe, a Norwegian businessman, was reported missing and ultimately killed after a trade with Nigerian scammers in Johannesburg, South Africa (September 1999).[34]
  • One American was murdered in Nigeria in June 1995 after being lured by a 419 scam.[35]

[edit] Emotional harm

Victims, in addition to having lost tens of thousands of dollars, often also lose their ability to trust. The 419 Eater website says, "Although there is no serious physical injury, many victims of con-men speak of the betrayal as the psychological equivalent of rape" [36]. Victims may blame themselves for what has happened, resulting in overwhelming guilt and shame. If the victim has borrowed money from others to pay the scammer, these feelings are magnified. Further compounding the problem is the public opinion of scam letters and scam victims. Scam letters are often viewed as humorously moronic, and the people who fall for them equally so, in complete disregard to the fact that people from all walks of life at every level of education fall for these scams. The victim, having lost money through the scammer's manipulation of payment methods such as money orders or checks, may become distrustful of the financial system. Scam victims may stop trusting and giving money to churches, legitimate charities and, in the extreme, even service providers such as their electric company because of their requests for money. The stress caused by the dwindling wealth and mounting debt can tear families and interpersonal relationships apart. Suicide is a common escape from the hardship and shame of being a fraud victim.[citation needed]

In other cases, the victim will continue to contact the scammer after being shown proof that they are being scammed or even being convicted of crimes relating to the scam, having been drawn so deeply into the web of deception that their trust in what the scammer tells them overrides everything else in their life.[37] Such victims are easy prey for future scams, digging themselves even deeper into financial and legal trouble.

[edit] Arrests

In 2004, fifty-two suspects were arrested in Amsterdam after an extensive raid.[38] An Internet service provider had noticed the increased email traffic. None was jailed or fined, due to lack of evidence. They were released in the week of July 12, 2004.

On November 8, 2004, Nick Marinellis of Sydney, Australia, was sentenced to 4 1/3 to 5 1/4 years for sending Nigerian 419 e-mails.[39]

In October 2006 the Amsterdam police launched Operation Apollo to fight internet fraud scams operated by West Africans and notably Nigerians. Following this invesigation police have arrested 80 suspects, most of them from Nigeria, and seized from their homes lists of email addresses, as well as fake documents. On June 16, 2007 111 people were arrested for being in The Netherlands illegally and suspicion of fraud, although their implication with the email scams is yet unknown.[40]

Authorities in Nigeria have been slow to take action and for many years nothing was done. Nigeria has a reputation for criminals being able to avoid convictions through bribery and rumours abounded of official connivance in the scams.[41] In 2003 however the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was charged with tackling the problem.[42] A couple of success stories including convictions in a large 419 case were reported in 2005.[43]

[edit] The victim becomes a criminal

Victims of the fraud often fall directly into crime by "borrowing" or stealing money to pay the advanced fees, thinking an early payday is imminent.

  • Former Alcona County (Michigan) Treasurer Thomas A. Katona was sentenced to 9-14 years for his embezzlement of more than US$1.2 million in county funds in a Nigerian fraud scheme, which represented half of the county's budget for that year.[44]
  • Another example of this was Robert Andrew Street,[45] a Melbourne-based financial adviser, who fleeced his clients for over AU$1 million which he sent to the scammers in the hope of receiving US$65 million in return. Eventually the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) investigated the victim, who had now become a conman himself.
  • Another example was a bookkeeper for Michigan law firm [46] Olsman Mueller & James who in 2002 emptied the company bank account of US$2.1 million in expectation of a US$4.5 million payout.
  • John W. Worley fell for a Nigerian scam and was convicted of taking money under false pretenses. [47]
  • According to Kurt Eichenwald, author of The Informant, Mark Whitacre defrauded Archer Daniels Midland, a food products manufacturer for which he was a division president, embezzling US$9 million during the same period of time that he was acting as an informant for the FBI in a price fixing scheme that ADM was involved in. His illegal activities in trying to procure funds for payment of his supposed Nigerian benefactors cost him his immunity in the price-fixing scandal, according to Eichenwald's book, The Informant. However, Eichenwald has recently lost his credibility, his job, and his career in journalism because of lying about his unethical payments to a source in a recent case.[48][49] James Lieber, author of Rats in the Grain and an attorney, also wrote a book about Whitacre in which he disagreed with Eichenwald's conclusions about Whitacre and the Nigerian scam. [50][51][52]

[edit] Impeded Nigerian e-mail output

This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (January 2008)

Legitimate Nigerian businesses find that their e-mails increasingly fail to reach their targets, due to people and companies setting their e-mail clients to automatically mark all mail containing the words 'Nigeria' and 'Nigerian' or coming from Nigerian IP addresses as spam, or even delete it out of hand.[citation needed]

[edit] Terms used by 419-scammers

Akwukwo[53], chekere, pepper
Fake check.[citation needed]
Joker, 419eater, eaters, baiter (very rare)
a scam baiter; someone who works to frustrate a scammer's efforts.
Bill
The amount a scammer plans to extract from his victim.
Dolla Chop
Receipt of money from a victim. Also used between scammers when one scammer has been paid money that another scammer was expecting (a variety of methods are used to accomplish this; two common methods are (1) when one scammer contacts a victim of another scammer and convinces the victim to send him the money instead, and (2) outright theft of a wire transfer by overhearing or stealing the details of that transfer and withdrawing the money first). Both the term and the tactics (or the appearance of them) are used by scam baiters to introduce a fake scammer into a bait.
Ego, pepper, lalas, show
Money
Fall mugu (to)
To be fooled, to become victim of advance fee fraud.
Flash of account
Cause the victim's bank account to temporarily show a large credit. This is intended to induce the victim to believe in the deal and send money. The credit gets reversed by the bank when it is discovered that the original check or electronic transfer was fraudulent.
Format
The scheme or script of an advance fee fraud, e.g., the late dictator format (the scammer pretends to be a relative of a dictator, e.g. Maryam Abacha, "Wife" of Sani Abacha), the next of kin format, the lottery format.
Guyman, guy
Scammer engaged in advance fee fraud.
Maga, mugu, mugun, mahi, magha[6], mahee, mayi, mayee, mgbada(antelope)
Victim of advance fee fraud. "Mugu" in particular is often used as an insult by scam-baiters referring back to the scammer.
Modalities
commonly used term for methods of funds transfer; often considered a shibboleth for scam messages due to its infrequency in North American and British English. However, it is an ordinary English word which gained currency in official jargon in Nigeria, perhaps in an effort to make the user sound more educated, and does not indicate any French origins or connections for the scams.
Oga or Chairman
Boss
Owner of the job, Catcher
Scammer who makes the first contact with a victim and then passes him on to another scammer who finishes the job. The latter shares the spoil with the former.
Runs
An (illegal) activity.
Yahoo millionaires[54], yahoo boys [55]
Scammers
Yahoo yahoo
The act of scamming, especially through the use of a Yahoo! mail address.

[edit] Media references and resources

[edit] Danny Wallace

In his book, Yes Man, in which for a time he attempted to say 'yes' to every invitation and opportunity, Danny Wallace almost fell for two scams similar to the 419 scam. First, he received an e-mail supposedly from the son of a murdered sultan who wished to seek refuge in the UK. He wanted to forward Wallace his riches and would share them with Wallace when he arrived. Wallace's friend Ian managed to talk him out of it before he went through with it fully, after responding to the e-mail. The second e-mail he received claimed that he had won a lottery in Europe and must go to Holland to claim his winnings. Despite being warned of the risks of going, Wallace went to Holland, although in the end he did not meet the people who claimed to be giving him the money, finding out that one of them was the name of a Dutch supermarket.

[edit] "The Chaser's War On Everything"

In an episode in Season 1 of the Australian satirical comedy show, The Chaser's War On Everything, Chas Licciardello investigated "spam email" by replying to a spam email received from a Nigerian woman claiming that she was in great danger, and therefore needed to invest her money and diamonds in a trustworthy individual. Chas posed as a man in love with her, and after five emails, was turned away, saying that she did not think he was "serious enough for the transaction".

[edit] "The Office"

In the episode "Michael's Birthday," from the American version of The Office, Michael Scott references an email he got from the son of the deposed king of Nigeria, an investment on which he lost a lot of money.

[edit] "30 Rock"

On the primetime NBC sitcom 30 Rock, the character of Tracy Jordan participates in a "Nigerian Letter" scheme. Played for comic effect, the scheme actually ends up working for Jordan, resulting in an influx of money.

[edit] To Catch a Con Man

Dateline NBC featured advance fee fraud on the premiere of its investigative journalism show To Catch a Predator. To Catch a Con Man explained a typical advance fee fraud scam and featured scammers being scambaited.

[edit] Books

Numerous written works about advance fee fraud or the fight against it have been published. These include:

[edit] Web sites

Web sites that are setup to provide information on countering those involved in Advance-Fee Fraud include the following:

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Nigerian Criminal Code. Retrieved on 2007-03-24.
  2. ^ ADS-L, 9 Feb 2005. Retrieved on 2006-03-24.
  3. ^ Scams that Keep Being Used on People
  4. ^ "Baiters Teach Scammers a Lesson," Wired
  5. ^ "Latest e-mail uses Alaska Airlines crash victims to scam," Seattle Post-Intelligencer
  6. ^ a b c 'I Will Eat Your Dollars' By Robyn Dixon Times Staff Writer Thu Oct 20, 7:55 AM ET
  7. ^ Mayer, Caroline E.. "Banks Honor Bogus Checks and Scam Victims Pay", The Washington Post, 2006-06-01, p. A01. Retrieved on 2006-07-09. 
  8. ^ [http://www.nbc5i.com/newsbycounty/14519865/detail.html Denton Woman Says Mystery Shopper Job Was Scam - NBC5i.com, Dallas
  9. ^ "Bulldogs too good to be true," Savannah Morning News
  10. ^ a b "Nigerian scam continues to thrive," MSNBC
  11. ^ a b Philip de Braun. "SA cops, Interpol probe murder", News24, 2004-12-31. Retrieved on 2006-07-09. 
  12. ^ Con artists target phone system for the deaf, MSNBC
  13. ^ "Russia: Internet Dating Schemes" United States Department of State. Accessed on December 4, 2007
  14. ^ "Ukraine: Internet and other Fraud Schemes" United States Department of State. Accessed on December 4, 2007
  15. ^ "Nigeria" Consular Information Sheet United States Department of State. Accessed on December 4, 2007
  16. ^ [1]
  17. ^ [2]
  18. ^ [3]
  19. ^ [4]
  20. ^ Tenant rental scam. Ontario Apartment deposit scam. Retrieved on 2007-07-20.
  21. ^ Landlord rental scam. Home Rental Ads. Retrieved on 2007-07-20.
  22. ^ [5]
  23. ^ Nigerian Scam. Snopes (2003-09-06). Retrieved on 2006-07-09.
  24. ^ [6]
  25. ^ Nigeria scams 'cost UK billions'. BBC News (20 November, 2006). Retrieved on 2006-11-20.
  26. ^ Fraud Alert - 419 Fraud. London Metropolitan Police. Retrieved on 2006-07-09.
  27. ^ Internet technology fueling Nigerian scam. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (2003-04-01). Retrieved on 2006-07-09.
  28. ^ "Czech pensioner charged with murdering Nigerian consul", Radio Prague, 2003-02-20. Retrieved on 2006-07-09. 
  29. ^ [7]
  30. ^ Suicide of Internet Scam Victim. British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved on 2006-09-26..
  31. ^ [8]
  32. ^ [9]
  33. ^ [10]
  34. ^ [11]
  35. ^ New Jersey Herald article quoting secret service on American death
  36. ^ [12]
  37. ^ [13]
  38. ^ Dutch 419 inside job, The Register, retrieved 31 Dec 2006
  39. ^ Nigerian 419 Scam Spammer Sentenced to Five Years in Prison
  40. ^ Dutch act on 'Nigerian scams', The Australian, retrieved 18 Jun 2007
  41. ^ Skeptics Journal 1998
  42. ^ "About the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission". EFCC website accessed 25 July 2007.
  43. ^ "Text of A Media Conference by Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, Executive Chairman, EFCC" (Monday, 21 November 2005). EFCC website retrieved 25 July 2007.
  44. ^ "Former Alcona County Treasurer Sentenced to 9-14 Years in Nigerian Scam Case," Office of the Attorney General, Michigan
  45. ^ 419ers take Aussie financial advisor for AU$1m, The Register, Published Tuesday 19th October 2004 GMT
  46. ^ Haines, Lester. "Woman falls for Nigerian scam, steals $2.1m from law firm," The Register
  47. ^ "Annals of Crime: The Perfect Mark," The New Yorker
  48. ^ "Kurt Eichenwald Resigns from Portfolio, "The New York Gazette
  49. ^ "ADM case still making headlines," Globe Gazette
  50. ^ "Supermarket for Scandal," University of Pennsylvania
  51. ^ "Rats In the Grain. - Review - book review"
  52. ^ RATS IN THE GRAIN: The Dirty Tricks and Trials of Archer Daniels Midland The Supermarket to the World
  53. ^ [14]
  54. ^ [15]
  55. ^ [16]

[edit] External links

[edit] 419 investigation

es:Estafa nigeriana eo:Antaŭpaga fraŭdo fr:Fraude 4-1-9 it:Truffa alla nigeriana he:העוקץ הניגרי nl:Nigeriaanse oplichting ja:ナイジェリアの手紙 no:Nigeriabrev nn:Nigeriabedrageri pl:Nigeryjski szwindel pt:Fraude nigeriana ru:Нигерийские письма fi:Nigerialaiskirjeet sv:Nigeriabrev zh:尼日利亞騙徒

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