The Advance Fee Fraud has been operating for
some considerable time, which suggests that
it continues to be successful for its operators.
In fact, although this type of scam frequently
originates from parts of Africa, it can have
other sources, e.g. there is evidence that a
similar scam has operated from the USA.
The scam is often based on the premise that
some major event or misfortune, such as the
overthrow of a government, has resulted in large
sums of money being held in a country by a person
or persons who are seeking help in transferring
the money to another country. A proportion of
the money is offered for help transferring the
money.
Approaches may be made by letter but are increasingly
sent via e-mail. Typically the approach will
appear to come form a senior government official,
business person, or armed forces officer, be
marked 'Strictly Confidential' or 'Urgent',
and offer the opportunity to share in a multi
million pound bonanza. Here is an example of
a typical letter or e-mail.
Dear Sir, First, I must solicit your strictest
confidence in this transaction. This is by virtue
of its nature utterly confidential and 'top
secret'. You have been recommended by an associate
who has assured me in confidence of your ability
and reliability to prosecute a transaction of
great magnitude involving a pending business
transaction requiring maximum confidence. We
are top officers of the Federal Government Contract
Review Panel who are interested in the importation
of goods into our country with funds presently
trapped in Nigeria. We solicit your assistance
to enable us to transfer into your account the
said trapped funds. I have been delegated as
a matter of trust by my colleagues to look for
an overseas partner into whose account we would
transfer the sum of $US21,320,000 (TWENTY ONE
MILLION THREE HUNDRED AND TWENTY THOUSAND UNITED
STATES DOLLARS)…We have agreed that you
will be entitled to 30% of the total sum, 60%
for us and 10% will be set aside for any expenses
while transacting the business.
The letter goes on to explain that Nigerian
civil servants are forbidden to operate foreign
bank accounts. All that is needed are details
of your or your company's bank account and perhaps
blank pages of letterhead. Companies and individuals
responding to this approach later receive another
letter asking for money for a last minute bribe.
There is evidence from around the world that
company directors, lawyers and other professional
people have reportedly lost significant amounts
of cash. And, inevitably, having parted with
the money, they never heard from their African
business partner again. Others have had personal
and company bank accounts emptied of money.
Don't reply to these requests.
Never, ever, reveal your bank details to strangers.
Been caught?
The West African Organised Crime Section of
the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS)
acts as the UK co-ordination point for unsolicited
approaches of this particular kind. They have
direct lines of communication with law enforcement
agencies in Europe, the USA, Australia, South
Africa and West African countries.
The NCIS advise that any such approaches should
be brought to the attention of local constabulary
fraud squads or commercial crime units, under
the title "West African Organised Crime".
They advise strongly against replying to these
approaches, which are sent by professional organised
criminals.
However, the NCIS also advise anyone who has
had contact with the source of such an approach
and/or sent money, should contact them at victim@spring39.demon.co.uk
or by telephone on 020 7238 8012.
In the case of e-mail, the NCIS also suggests
alerting the internet service provider (ISP)
from which the e-mail originated by sending
a copy to abuse@[theISPname] (for example, abuse@yahoo.com;
abuse@hotmail.com; abuse@onebox.com). The ISP
should then be able to quickly terminate the
account.
Sources of further information about this type
of scam can be found at
www.ncis.gov.uk
and at www.nigerianfraudwatch.org
