9 February 2010
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For more than 16 years, private individuals, as well as organizations and commercial companies, have been receiving unexpected communication through letters and faxes but mainly through e-mails from senders claiming to be Nigerian or African citizens and promising high profitable business. According to the relevant section of the Criminal Code of Nigeria it is referred to as 4-1-9 Fraud. In general, the solicitation for a profitable money deal is very simple and almost always similar:
The mail sender requests discreet and confidential handling of the deal while the expected enormous profit makes the receiver forget or ignore all rules of secure and professional business. The victim is asked to open a special bank account to allow the correct remittance of the money. The next phase of the fraud is convincing the victims that the money transfer is in progress. Several documents are provided bearing apparently official Nigerian government letterhead and seals, as well as false letters of credit, payment schedules and bank drafts. The name of the victim is almost always already mentioned in the documents. An extensive exchange of e-mails, faxes and telephone calls takes place between the perpetrators and the victims in order to gain the victim's confidence and to collect as much private information about him as possible. The information e.g. of bank accounts, ID documents, addresses and contact persons is often used later on to commit further criminal offences in the name of the victim. In the next stage the intended fraud takes place. The fraudsters convey that some problems have suddenly arisen which can only be solved with the assistance of the victim. An official is demanding an up-front bribe, or an unforeseen tax payment or fee to the Nigerian government has to be paid before the money can be transferred. These can include e.g. licensing fees, registration fees, and various forms of taxes and attorney fees. Each fee paid is described as the very last fee required. Invariably, oversights and errors in the deal are discovered by the Nigerians, necessitating additional payments and allowing the scheme to be stretched out over a long period until the victim is no longer willing to invest any money. In a possible follow-up stage victims are requested to travel to Nigeria or a border country to complete a transaction. The perpetrators maintain that a visa is not necessary to enter the country while arranging with airport officials for the victims to pass through Immigration and Customs. As it is a serious offence in Nigeria to enter without a valid visa, the victim's illegal entry may be used by the fraudsters as leverage to coerce the victims into releasing funds. Violence and threats of physical harm may be employed to put further pressure on victims. Victims might also be asked to travel to a neutral country where the money could be handed over in a hotel room. European capitals as London, Madrid and Amsterdam were identified as a favourite venue for this. The Black Money Scheme During such meetings, the fraudsters present suitcases which are allegedly full of genuine money to the victim. The notes usually have the size of 100USD bills and are all coloured black. The victim is told that they have been coated with a special substance in order to smuggle these out of the country. A special cleaning liquid is required to wash the notes in order to return them to their original state which costs between 10,000USD and 500,000USD. Having initial physical contact with the enormous amount of promised money seems for the victim to be the final step required to enter into possession of the money. All the victims obtain in the end is worthless paper. The good and the bad A possible intermediate step before the Black Money Scam takes place could be as follows. When the victim is no longer willing to pay advance fees, the team of fraudsters may disappear and contact is interrupted. After a while the victim may be contacted through the same channels by a new generation of fraudsters maintaining that they are investigators, aware of the fraud and willing and able to assist the victim in getting his lost money back. However, this is only another criminal attempt to ask the victim for more money to cover the unexpected cost of the investigations. What to do if you receive one of these fraudulent messages:
What to do If you are already in contact with perpetrators or have already paid advance fees:
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