You may never have heard of Nuhu Ribadu, but you will likely feel the impact now that he has been unceremoniously dumped from his job as head of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission in Nigeria.
Just watch your e-mail inbox. Until he was suddenly sent on a training course this summer, Mr. Ribadu was Nigeria's anti-corruption czar. He had the distinction of being the first government official to go after ordinary conmen and to win mass convictions for the e-mail scams that have put Nigeria on the map in the online world.
It is uncertain whether his replacement, Farida Waziri, will display anywhere near the vigour or the bravery that Mr. Ribadu displayed in tackling what has become a multi-million-dollar industry in the oil-rich, but governance-poor West African nation. Then again, that might help her escape the fate of Mr. Ribadu.
Whatever the official reason for his demotion and that of 139 anti-corruption officials he trained, the reason put forth in numerous media reports is that his investigations had moved too high up the political ladder and were focusing on allies and associates of the current Prime Minister, Umaru Yar'Adua.
Targeting conmen who made their money off gullible foreigners was one thing, but zeroing in on corrupt officials involved in even larger scams was something the government could not tolerate. And so Mr. Ribadu had to go.
Nigeria didn't invent the advance fee fraud, better known as the 419 after the section of the Nigerian criminal code that prohibits making money through fraud. By some accounts it existed in the late 1600s and was known as the Spanish prisoner scam. You will recognize the elements. The mark is approached by someone who claims to be in correspondence with a wealthy person who has been wrongly imprisoned. All the mark had to do to win a handsome reward was to provide money to bribe the guards.
You would think that no one could be taken in by such transparently false stories. But you would be wrong. While estimates are hard to come by because many victims are too embarrassed to complain after the fact, Ultrascan Advanced Global Investigations, a company in the Netherlands that has been tracking these scams for more than a decade, estimates that $4.3-billion was lost to such frauds in 2007.
Closer to home, the RCMP received 169 complaints for what they call the “West African Letter Fraud” in 2007, involving losses to the victims of $5.5-million. In the first seven months of 2008, they received another 94 complaints amounting to losses of $2.8-million.
Not all of the perpetrators are Nigerian. However, Ultrascan believes that the bulk of the estimated 300,000 people working this scam are Nigerians, either working from their home country or abroad. Which is why it matters to Canadians what the Nigerians are or are not doing to crack down on advance fee fraud.
Nigerian politics may seem complicated and even uninteresting, given that the country is so far away. But e-mail fraudsters have forged a direct link between what is happening there and your e-mail inbox and, if you are truly unlucky, your bank account.
Source - REPORTONBUSINESS.com
Just watch your e-mail inbox. Until he was suddenly sent on a training course this summer, Mr. Ribadu was Nigeria's anti-corruption czar. He had the distinction of being the first government official to go after ordinary conmen and to win mass convictions for the e-mail scams that have put Nigeria on the map in the online world.
It is uncertain whether his replacement, Farida Waziri, will display anywhere near the vigour or the bravery that Mr. Ribadu displayed in tackling what has become a multi-million-dollar industry in the oil-rich, but governance-poor West African nation. Then again, that might help her escape the fate of Mr. Ribadu.
Whatever the official reason for his demotion and that of 139 anti-corruption officials he trained, the reason put forth in numerous media reports is that his investigations had moved too high up the political ladder and were focusing on allies and associates of the current Prime Minister, Umaru Yar'Adua.
Targeting conmen who made their money off gullible foreigners was one thing, but zeroing in on corrupt officials involved in even larger scams was something the government could not tolerate. And so Mr. Ribadu had to go.
Nigeria didn't invent the advance fee fraud, better known as the 419 after the section of the Nigerian criminal code that prohibits making money through fraud. By some accounts it existed in the late 1600s and was known as the Spanish prisoner scam. You will recognize the elements. The mark is approached by someone who claims to be in correspondence with a wealthy person who has been wrongly imprisoned. All the mark had to do to win a handsome reward was to provide money to bribe the guards.
You would think that no one could be taken in by such transparently false stories. But you would be wrong. While estimates are hard to come by because many victims are too embarrassed to complain after the fact, Ultrascan Advanced Global Investigations, a company in the Netherlands that has been tracking these scams for more than a decade, estimates that $4.3-billion was lost to such frauds in 2007.
Closer to home, the RCMP received 169 complaints for what they call the “West African Letter Fraud” in 2007, involving losses to the victims of $5.5-million. In the first seven months of 2008, they received another 94 complaints amounting to losses of $2.8-million.
Not all of the perpetrators are Nigerian. However, Ultrascan believes that the bulk of the estimated 300,000 people working this scam are Nigerians, either working from their home country or abroad. Which is why it matters to Canadians what the Nigerians are or are not doing to crack down on advance fee fraud.
Nigerian politics may seem complicated and even uninteresting, given that the country is so far away. But e-mail fraudsters have forged a direct link between what is happening there and your e-mail inbox and, if you are truly unlucky, your bank account.
Source - REPORTONBUSINESS.com
Labels: 419 scam, email scam
Posted on Friday, August 29, 2008
|
|
Losing money and feeling cheated was an old story. Now you could be struggled under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) for being a victim of the Nigerian fraud. RBI has issued a public notice guarding people against victims of this malpractice and advising them of the legal trap that they could fall into. The Nigerian of 419 scam first uncovered in India by CNBC-TV18 has now caught the attention of the regulator. RBI has issued public notices cautioning people against falling prey to the scam. The scammers hide behind an email and tempted people by promising an excessive amount either for winning a lottery or for helping him a late rulers's or rich man's wealth. The impostor also claims that he has an account with the Reserve Bank, through which the money transaction would take place. After this stage the scammer asks people to deposit money as processing fee and then disappears with this money. The RBI has now cautioned people against transferring money to any such accounts, as they do not hold any individual or institutional account for fund disbursal. Besides, remittance towards participation in such lottery schemes is prohibited under the Foreign Exchange Management Act. The money laundering mafia is working behind such issues sometimes. Apart for some arrests, Indian authorities have found it impossible to squeeze the fraud. Hope RBI's latest action to put the responsibility on the citizen falling prey to the malpractice could therefore help control the fraud.
Labels: Nigerian Scam
Posted on Monday, August 25, 2008
|
|
A Nigerian representative told that the Australian victims of Nigerian online scams are greedy and should be jailed together with the Africans who comforted them of their cash. High Commissioner Olu Agbi told that the people who sent their money were as guilty as those who were asking them to send the money. He said media coverage of Nigerian scams had given the corruption-plagued country "a bad image." Agbi was responding to a police report that said Australians were losing A$36-million (about R239-million) to online scams.
Labels: email scam, lottery scam, spam news
Posted on Friday, August 22, 2008
|
|
British scammers have their own Nigerian 419 fraud. This is working simply a more northerly version of the old Nigerian oil-lottery-estate-personal assistance e-mail scam. Phishers send e-mails to so many people telling them that they have won an extraordinary amount of money. They never want you to contact them directly. Instead of that the email asks you to fill out a form with your personal information. But the scammers don't want you to fill out the form, when you could simply just click a link. That's when the phisher has you. So don't click on any links in your mails from unknown people. It is illegal to buy or sell foreign lotteries in the United States. Remember, if it sounds very good to be true, it probably is. The British didn't simply give away the United States.
Labels: 419 scam, email scam, email spam, lottery, spam news
Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008
|
|
Someone hacked Sara Blue's hotmail account and sent emails to all her contacts saying that she's in Africa and custody of some robbers and needs $2500 urgently. When people replied back to her account to confirm, the hacker responded, saying that it really was her and that she needed the money. One of her friends called her up and asked about this. Then only poor Sara came to know about the incident. As her account contained sensitive data like credit card information, she suddenly approached the mail providers to block her account. It took 48 hours to cancel the account. She had to cancel all of her credit cards, and put a fraud alert on her credit. Now she fears she is at risk for identity theft or credit fraud.
change your passwords once in 30 days. Don't install and run software, anti-viruses or audio-video files from un-authorized people.
Anyway Sara Blue decided not to use her hotmail again.
change your passwords once in 30 days. Don't install and run software, anti-viruses or audio-video files from un-authorized people.
Anyway Sara Blue decided not to use her hotmail again.
Posted on Sunday, August 17, 2008
|
|
After a victim responds positively to an AFF letter by sending the required documentation (for example, signed company letterheads, bank account number, etc.) the hook is in. The primary reason for the documentation is not to rob the victim's bank account, but to perpetuate the illusion that the deal is legitimate and moving forward. The blank signed letterheads are altered and used by the criminals as props in other frauds, letters of reference to obtain visas, or sold to other AFF criminals.
For the next week to 10 days, the perpetrators establish a level of trust with the victim. This is accomplished by sending the victim more "official" documentation verifying the bonafides of the deal and the people involved. The criminals will correspond with the victim via fax machines and courier mail because it is difficult to trace. In the past, these criminals made extensive use of business centers in Lagos to place phone calls and send faxes, but the Nigerian Government reports—and evidence seems to confirm—that business centers were closed in an effort to thwart AFF scams.
The criminals also conduct the scams from their homes or other locations (front companies). To ensure the integrity of the phone lines at those locations, they will gain access to active telephone lines. The telephone lines were either abandoned by the owner who could no longer afford it, or are used without the knowledge or consent of the owner. Therefore, a criminal will use a phone line that is registered to someone living in another part of the city, making it almost impossible to trace.
What happens next is the most crucial point in the fraud and can take a number of directions. A victim will be advised that the deal is near completion, however, an emergency has arisen and money is needed to pay an unforeseen government fee or tax before the money can be released. If the fee is paid, the criminals will come up with another "problem" that requires immediate payment by the victim. Each problem" is supported by "official" documentation.
The criminals can run this ruse for months or even years, depending on the gullibility of the victim or his or her desperation to recoup losses. One Western diplomat described it as "kind of like gambling. You get in so deep you keep putting money in to get something out of it." At some point during the fraud, the criminals will attempt to have the victim travel to Nigeria or a bordering country to finalize the contract, money transfer, or other transaction. If the victim appears reluctant to go to Nigeria, the criminals will suggest a neutral country where an AFF team, unbeknownst to the victim, is already established. The AFF team will not target a victim in the victim's own country where they have established roots and can easily check on the validity of the scam.
Travel to Nigeria
In some instances, prior to coming to Nigeria, the criminals will tell a victim to bring expensive watches, pens, and men's suits as "gifts." Proceeds from these items are kept by the criminals. The criminals may tell the victim that a visa is not required to enter Nigeria, or a visa has been arranged to be issued upon arrival. Without exception, a valid Nigerian visa is required for entry and departure, and airport visas are not available. Travel to Nigeria should not be undertaken without first verifying the bona fides of a company or business partners. If a victim meets the criminals in a bordering country, the victim may find that he or she still must travel to Lagos. Entry without a visa gives the criminals leverage over the victim and leads to other forms of extortion.
Once in Lagos, the victim will be housed in one of the many small hotels (euphemistically known as "419" hotels), located primarily around Murtala Muhammad Airport. At this point, the victim is totally immersed in the scam, and the criminals have total control over the victim's every move. The victim is taken to meetings with criminals posing as Nigerian Government officials, or possibly corrupt government officials, to finalize the deal. The meetings can take place in government offices or annexes that are "rented" by the criminals or in a office that is setup to resemble a government office. These offices are often located near government buildings to add authenticity to the fraud. If the victim is sufficiently duped by this elaborate ruse, he or she returns home unharmed and the scam continues. However, if the victim decides not to pay additional payments and/or sign a contract, the victim will be subjected to threats and physical abuse until he or she arranges for more payments.
Neutral Country
If the victim is reluctant to go to Nigeria, the criminals will suggest a neutral country where a team is already established. The victim will be requested to provide them with his or her flight itinerary and the name of the hotel he or she will be staying.
This is the first step in controlling the victim's movements during the scam.
Operating under the guise that the business contacts are in Nigeria, the criminals will have the victim send roundtrip airline tickets from Lagos to the neutral country for face-to-face meetings with business contacts. The victim is also requested to reserve hotel rooms in his or her name for the contacts. The hotel rooms are never in the same hotel as the victim's. The criminals will cash the airline tickets, and use the hotel rooms, which are reserved under the name of a legitimate business person, or his or her company, in other scams or sell to another AFF criminals.
Surprisingly, nine out of ten victims comply with this request. Meetings will be setup in areas of the city unfamiliar to the victim. To keep the victim off balance and allow the criminals time to conduct counter-surveillance, the criminals will schedule and cancel a number of meetings with the victim. Whether the victim decides not to pursue the "deal" or at some point during a scam, the victim stops paying, the criminals will not walk away from the victim. They will attempt to re-consummate the fraud using various ruses. The AFF criminals might pose as Nigerian Government officials attempting to get the victim's money back or try to convince the victim that they are the legitimate government officials and the other men he or she dealt with were frauds. Re-victimization will be perpetrated either by the original criminals, or sold to another AFF team to operate.
For the next week to 10 days, the perpetrators establish a level of trust with the victim. This is accomplished by sending the victim more "official" documentation verifying the bonafides of the deal and the people involved. The criminals will correspond with the victim via fax machines and courier mail because it is difficult to trace. In the past, these criminals made extensive use of business centers in Lagos to place phone calls and send faxes, but the Nigerian Government reports—and evidence seems to confirm—that business centers were closed in an effort to thwart AFF scams.
The criminals also conduct the scams from their homes or other locations (front companies). To ensure the integrity of the phone lines at those locations, they will gain access to active telephone lines. The telephone lines were either abandoned by the owner who could no longer afford it, or are used without the knowledge or consent of the owner. Therefore, a criminal will use a phone line that is registered to someone living in another part of the city, making it almost impossible to trace.
What happens next is the most crucial point in the fraud and can take a number of directions. A victim will be advised that the deal is near completion, however, an emergency has arisen and money is needed to pay an unforeseen government fee or tax before the money can be released. If the fee is paid, the criminals will come up with another "problem" that requires immediate payment by the victim. Each problem" is supported by "official" documentation.
The criminals can run this ruse for months or even years, depending on the gullibility of the victim or his or her desperation to recoup losses. One Western diplomat described it as "kind of like gambling. You get in so deep you keep putting money in to get something out of it." At some point during the fraud, the criminals will attempt to have the victim travel to Nigeria or a bordering country to finalize the contract, money transfer, or other transaction. If the victim appears reluctant to go to Nigeria, the criminals will suggest a neutral country where an AFF team, unbeknownst to the victim, is already established. The AFF team will not target a victim in the victim's own country where they have established roots and can easily check on the validity of the scam.
Travel to Nigeria
In some instances, prior to coming to Nigeria, the criminals will tell a victim to bring expensive watches, pens, and men's suits as "gifts." Proceeds from these items are kept by the criminals. The criminals may tell the victim that a visa is not required to enter Nigeria, or a visa has been arranged to be issued upon arrival. Without exception, a valid Nigerian visa is required for entry and departure, and airport visas are not available. Travel to Nigeria should not be undertaken without first verifying the bona fides of a company or business partners. If a victim meets the criminals in a bordering country, the victim may find that he or she still must travel to Lagos. Entry without a visa gives the criminals leverage over the victim and leads to other forms of extortion.
Once in Lagos, the victim will be housed in one of the many small hotels (euphemistically known as "419" hotels), located primarily around Murtala Muhammad Airport. At this point, the victim is totally immersed in the scam, and the criminals have total control over the victim's every move. The victim is taken to meetings with criminals posing as Nigerian Government officials, or possibly corrupt government officials, to finalize the deal. The meetings can take place in government offices or annexes that are "rented" by the criminals or in a office that is setup to resemble a government office. These offices are often located near government buildings to add authenticity to the fraud. If the victim is sufficiently duped by this elaborate ruse, he or she returns home unharmed and the scam continues. However, if the victim decides not to pay additional payments and/or sign a contract, the victim will be subjected to threats and physical abuse until he or she arranges for more payments.
Neutral Country
If the victim is reluctant to go to Nigeria, the criminals will suggest a neutral country where a team is already established. The victim will be requested to provide them with his or her flight itinerary and the name of the hotel he or she will be staying.
This is the first step in controlling the victim's movements during the scam.
Operating under the guise that the business contacts are in Nigeria, the criminals will have the victim send roundtrip airline tickets from Lagos to the neutral country for face-to-face meetings with business contacts. The victim is also requested to reserve hotel rooms in his or her name for the contacts. The hotel rooms are never in the same hotel as the victim's. The criminals will cash the airline tickets, and use the hotel rooms, which are reserved under the name of a legitimate business person, or his or her company, in other scams or sell to another AFF criminals.
Surprisingly, nine out of ten victims comply with this request. Meetings will be setup in areas of the city unfamiliar to the victim. To keep the victim off balance and allow the criminals time to conduct counter-surveillance, the criminals will schedule and cancel a number of meetings with the victim. Whether the victim decides not to pursue the "deal" or at some point during a scam, the victim stops paying, the criminals will not walk away from the victim. They will attempt to re-consummate the fraud using various ruses. The AFF criminals might pose as Nigerian Government officials attempting to get the victim's money back or try to convince the victim that they are the legitimate government officials and the other men he or she dealt with were frauds. Re-victimization will be perpetrated either by the original criminals, or sold to another AFF team to operate.
Labels: 419 scam, email scam, email spam
|
|
A South African and his Nigerian friend have been jailed for 15 years for a 419 scam. Jabu Nkabinde, 33, and Olusegun Justus Davies, 35, opened a bank account using a dead man's identity and then cheated four people. They told their victims that they had won about £30.5-million in a UK lottery and for receiving the prize amount they have to pay "administration fees" into a fake account. Nkabinde and Davies were found guilty on six charges of fraud by the Pretoria Specialized Commercial Crimes Court.
In 2005, they opened a bank account at Absa in the name of Mthandazile Bhudane, and sent out emails to the victims informing them they had won a "6 Ball Lotto Game" contest in the UK and a administration charge of 4,550 pound was required to process the prize amount. They told the victims that M Bhudane is the "region agent" of the "6 Ball Lotto Game" in South Africa and wanted them to deposit money in his bank account.
So many people thought that they actually got the prize and when they asked for proof, these two men sent them certificates and faxes to "confirm" their winnings. They all deposited between R52 097 and R53 872, depending on the exchange rate.
But they never received their millions. In addition, the two men used their account to obtain a bond of R320 000 for a house from another bank. Nkabinde went into the bank in August 2005 to withdraw money from the account. The teller got some suspect and informed the police. Some days later Davies got arrested in the house.
In 2005, they opened a bank account at Absa in the name of Mthandazile Bhudane, and sent out emails to the victims informing them they had won a "6 Ball Lotto Game" contest in the UK and a administration charge of 4,550 pound was required to process the prize amount. They told the victims that M Bhudane is the "region agent" of the "6 Ball Lotto Game" in South Africa and wanted them to deposit money in his bank account.
So many people thought that they actually got the prize and when they asked for proof, these two men sent them certificates and faxes to "confirm" their winnings. They all deposited between R52 097 and R53 872, depending on the exchange rate.
But they never received their millions. In addition, the two men used their account to obtain a bond of R320 000 for a house from another bank. Nkabinde went into the bank in August 2005 to withdraw money from the account. The teller got some suspect and informed the police. Some days later Davies got arrested in the house.
Labels: 419 scam, email scam, email spam, scam, spam, spam news
Posted on Monday, August 11, 2008
|
|
In the United States the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) gives those who are, or believe that they have been, the victim of identity theft specific legal rights. These rights are designed to help people recover from identity theft.
- One has the right to ask that the major credit reporting agencies place 'fraud alerts' in his or her file to let warn creditors and others know that he or she may be a victim of identity theft.
- One has the right to free copies of the information in his or her file (called their 'file disclosure'). - One has have the right to obtain documents relating to fraudulent transactions made or accounts opened using his or her personal information.
- One has the right to obtain information from a debt collector.
- If one believes information in his or her file results from identity theft, he or she has the right to ask that a consumer reporting agency block that information from his or her file.
- One may prevent businesses from reporting information about him or her to consumer reporting agencies if he or she believes the information is a result of identity theft.
- One has the right to ask that the major credit reporting agencies place 'fraud alerts' in his or her file to let warn creditors and others know that he or she may be a victim of identity theft.
- One has the right to free copies of the information in his or her file (called their 'file disclosure'). - One has have the right to obtain documents relating to fraudulent transactions made or accounts opened using his or her personal information.
- One has the right to obtain information from a debt collector.
- If one believes information in his or her file results from identity theft, he or she has the right to ask that a consumer reporting agency block that information from his or her file.
- One may prevent businesses from reporting information about him or her to consumer reporting agencies if he or she believes the information is a result of identity theft.
Posted on Wednesday, August 6, 2008
|
|
At first glance, the email looks like a typical 419 scam. The twist is that the email came from a user's hacked webmail account and was sent to his personal list of contacts. Friends and colleagues received the request for assistance and were urged to respond via email only. As the hacker took over the user's account, the real owner would not have known about the email if the recipients fell for the scam. As a further stamp of authentication, the auto-signature typically used by the account owner was included at the end of the message. As a result, the account owner was quickly notified by a friend via telephone of the scam, and immediately contacted the webmail service providers to get his account access back. This proved to be difficult because the hacker had changed the account details such as password, address and secret question.
The scam did not stop there - once the hacker had access to the email account, he was able to get the account owner's online auction site password emailed to the account. The hacker then began bidding on a number of laptops being sold in the UK and instructed that the laptops be sent to Nigeria.
It is important to note that this scam was not isolated to one particular web mail provider or organization. This scam also serves as a timely reminder that users should always keep passwords secure and never share them with anyone. Also, be wary of "account expiry" notifications that try to entice users to provide their account details unwittingly to a third party.
Source: Symantec's "The State of Spam A Monthly Report - July 2008".
Labels: 419 scam, email scam, email spam, spam news
Posted on Tuesday, August 5, 2008
|
|
Olympic officials have some how succeeded in convincing US federal courts to close two websites selling Beijing Olympic tickets that turned out to be fakes. Beijingticketing.com and beijing-tickets2008.com were the websites and those are not accessible today morning. The International Olympic Committee and the US Olympic Committee had already told that they would ask a federal judge in San Francisco on Monday for an order that help to shut the sites down. Australians informed the AOC about the scam months ago but nothing was done to shut it down. Some sports fans lost more than $US50, 000. The scam cheated hundreds of Australians and they reached a national hotline complaining that their tickets were not delivered. But the Australian Olympic Committee said they are helpless and can’t compensate people or give replacement tickets. These websites even opened call centers to assist customers. The site, however, seems to have shut itself down this morning and the phone number displayed on the site has been disconnected
|
|
A South African and his Nigerian co-accused have been jailed for 15 years for a 419 scam. Jabu Nkabinde, 33, and Olusegun Justus Davies, 35, opened a bank account using another man's identity who’s not alive and then cheated four people with the 419 scam. They told their victims that they had won about R30.5-million in a UK lottery, which they would receive on paying "administration fees" into a fraudulent account. Nkabinde and Davies were found guilty on six charges of fraud by the Pretoria Specialized Commercial Crimes Court. They opened a bank account at Absa in 2005 in the name of Mthandazile Bhudane, and sent out emails to unsuspecting victims informing them they had won a "6 Ball Lotto Game" competition in the UK.
|
|
Lonely Kiwis Targeted by Scammers
Source: stuff.co.nz
Labels: email scam
Posted on Wednesday, August 27, 2008