23/01/2016

Nigerian conmen prey on the gullible and greedy

LAST week the US Secret Service held the 10th annual Nigerian organised crime conference in Milwaukee.
The fact that it was devoted exclusively to crimes involving Nigerians underlines the level of international concern at this growth area. The conference was attended by representatives
of police forces across Europe, Africa and the Far East as well as American delegates and the list included the head of the Garda bureau of fraud investigation, Det Chief Supt Austin McNally.
In the US, the Secret Service estimates that about 100m Nigerian scam letters have been received by American citizens and responses have been sent back to about 10m of them. It is reckoned that 1pc or 100,000 of the contacts result in negotiations with the scam gangs and the average loss is $40,000.
The full extent of the financial loss suffered by the victims in the US, as in Ireland, cannot be estimated properly because this is mainly a hidden crime and few are prepared to come forward to report their foolishness to the police.
The Nigerian rip-off has been operating in this country for several years and thousands of potential investors from all walks of life have received unsolicited communications from the fraudsters promising undreamt of wealth. Lately these are being sent in e-mails and faxes rather than letters.
A typical communication is from a man who introduces himself as a manager with a bank in Lagos, the capital of Nigeria. He says he has come across you during his private search for "a reliable person to handle a confidential transaction on behalf of my colleagues and myself".
The letter tells how a prosperous German farmer and his wife lodged $18.5m in the bank and both had been killed in an air crash in France.
Contacts with the German embassy in Nigeria had established the couple had no children and the bank had been unable to find anybody to claim the money. To avoid the account being declared dormant, the manager proposes that you stand in as a relative so that the funds will be released to you. All the documents to enable you get these funds would be carefully worked out to guarantee a risk-free exercise.
The manager promises 20pc, sometimes 25pc, commission and asks you to keep the proposal confidential "for obvious reasons". Usually, the fraudster follows up with a communication indicating that you have agree to become involved - even though you have ignored the first message - and presses on with further proposals.
If the potential victim appears interested and the Nigerians are satisfied they are not going to be exposed, a meeting is then proposed, sometimes in another European country and arrangements are made for an initial payment.
These payments are normally said to be used in paying bribes to government officials in Nigeria and to cover other working expenses. In return, the investor will receive massive returns on the sums lodged.
With hindsight, most of the proposals, such as the black money scam, are ludicrous on close examination but a sizeable number of potential victims are attracted initially, through a mixture of hard sell by the Nigerians and greed on the part of the investors.
As the Garda fraud bureau's Det Supt Willie McGee points out: "Some people are greedy and others are gullible. When they have been robbed they realise their foolishness and then are too embarrassed to report the crime to the gardai. We need them to make complaints to allow us to act against these gangs who have strong international connections and simply move on to the next victim."

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