Nigeria online scams - EFCC still missing the point

It is becoming embarrassing to read, hear or see the EFCC holding seminars after seminars, wasting money and not making any meaningful progress in combating cyber crime, well in this case the plain old online scam aka 419.

What is an online scam or 419 as it is popularly known today even amongst foreigners?

Without any consensus on the definition I will explain what it is and how it works.

Online scam is a scam that is effected using the internet. It involves the initiator sending out emails to a lot of people (not really targeted people) making offers that are not real or true while waiting for greedy people to respond to such offers.

2 variants are common

1. A relative just died and left $150,000,000.00 in a safe deposit in a bank. Your help is needed to claim this money and for your stress you will be compensated with say 40% of the money.

2. There is this oil well that I just found in my backyard, no body knows about it but I am looking for buyers for the crude oil for as low as $10.00 per barrel.

Now, online scam cannot begin and end with the originator, in this case the 419 man, before a scam takes place you must have a willing partner waiting and hoping to benefit from this financial crime against Nigeria.

In other words, 419 is a crime committed by at least 2 parties, not 1 party.

What does it take to initiate this online scam?

A computer connected to the internet and an email account whether free or fee based. Then the ability to put together some sentences even with very bad grammar.

Nigeria's image being battered

I agree that 419 has contributed to the battering of our image worldwide but again that is simply because Nigerians decided to do what other people have been doing in the past only this time the prize is usually way too high.

For starters, the percentage of online scams being perpetrated by Nigerians amount to less than 10%, USA accounts for over 50% (based on a study some 3 years ago) so why should Nigeria be blamed for what others do?

Can 419 be stopped?

No. Unless you want to control all the computers that Nigerians can use especially the ones connected to the internet. Can it be reduced? Yes. And that is the essence of this piece.

The current strategy of the EFCC

Once in a while a fraudster is arrested and probably jailed. But the fact is that for every single fraudster arrested you have hundreds of thousands of scam emails originating from pcs all over the world.

While the Nigerian fraudster is arrested, paraded and jailed his counterpart/partner in the financial crime against Nigeria is sipping coffee in one foreign country cursing and blaming Nigeria and Nigerians for his stupidity and greed.

Is this enough? No. Is this right? No. What then is right?

A crime committed by 2 people should have 2 people serving the punishment not 1 person. As simple as this statement is, herein lies the major problem hindering the fight against online scam.

Just like prostitution, as long as men are willing to patronize prostitutes prostitution will continue, after all brothels will naturally close down if men stopped visiting them.

In the same way, as long as you have greedy foreigners waiting for such criminally focused business opportunities the sending of scam emails will not stop.

I have challenged a lot of foreigners on this and the usual lame explanation some give after making it clear that most 419 victims are just plain stupid, lazy and greedy is that one cannot deny them the right to hope for a lucky break in life, can you imagine?

What can the EFCC do to reduce online scam?

One way or the other the reason why we are not really making any headway is that only 1 person is usually punished for a crime committed by 2 people and in the sight of God and man this is wrong and counter productive.

It is important for us to understand that the allegiance of the EFCC should be with Nigeria and Nigerians regardless of foreign bodies that support them either financially or otherwise.

The EFCC should come out with a bold statement that henceforth for any online 419 issue reported action will be taken only when the originator and the collaborator are arrested. Put differently, the so called victim should be sent down to Nigeria to face charges of financial crimes against Nigeria.

What will this achieve? Remember that people commit crimes depending on the weight of the punishment for that crime. A situation where a foreigner knows that he/she runs the risk of being arrested and sent to Nigeria for trials and a likely jail team is good for Nigeria and for the world because not many foreigners will be willing to go that route.

If the EFCC is not making any serious progress in the fight against online scam in spite of the energy, money and time expended thus far then the time is now for them to try a new approach, an approach that is just and in good faith, an approach that will make it clear to all parties that there is a price to pay either as the originator or the collaborator.

We should be bold enough to defend Nigeria and punish whoever is engaged in financial crimes against Nigeria regardless of race or gender.

Wow, what a wonderful write-up by a born again Afam. if there is a lab for testing the values of topics like, afam i bet you have done better than most ghost authors you have been quoting in the past when u were in the habit of copy and paste. please, since u can present home made issues in such a wonderful manners, i urge u not to go back but remain firm on this ur new found life. i love u brother.

back to ur topic.
efcc is a tool and for this reason alone they can not fight the just war. they can only serve the purpose for which they were created.

stopping online scam;
like u rightly said, not so soon. this online scam has a route in aso rock and hence can only be taken care of from the route. you may ask why?

have u asked yourself why nigerian government and that of other countries never for once made any public campeign aginst stealing money from nigeria. trace all their adverts, it reads, never pay any money in advance because it is a an advance free fraud so that idea here is not stop money laundary of stealing money from nigeria rather to stop fake or impostors.

remember this scam originated from the original idea of public office holders stealing money from gov with the help of foriegners. most of their activities were successful hence their friends will come calling for their own time to be lucky to benefit from this stealing.

my belief;
as long as our public office holders are stealing money from nigeria to overseas, the scam will continue because for every fake product, there must be original.

the idea of efcc to punish one party is a way of telling their poriegn partners that we are really working hard to get rid of the yahoo boys so that our business will be real and thereby make things easy for the officials to get partners with easy because as long as the bad boys exist, the white people will always be scared to do the transaction for the fear of being duped.
furthermore, the white men out of anxiety might decide to report an official thinking is one of those fraudstars.

Brother Afam, tell Ribadu that a white man who has the intention of recieving a contract sum which he did not work for and get defrauded along the line is supposed to have a bigger punishment than the one who defrauded him because the whiteman's intention was to defraud nigeria while the nigerian's intention remains to defraud the person.

it shld be a case against a state and a case against an individual.

ribadu is fake and a tool otherwise while will a criminal shamelessly approach nigeria telling us how he was defrauded on his way to defraud nigeria.

if ribadu and co happens to punish any oyibo for trying to steal from nigeria, it will then be difficult for the politicians to shift money out of nigeria and for this reason, fraud or internet scam have come to stay no matter how many years in jail.

Very deep.
Great job guys!

Afam, you continue to show your true originality on a regular; I admire your honesty, boldness and vigorous struggle to see Nigeria, our sweet nation back at the top.

This is an incredible topic!

The FG should forbid the EFCC from accepting foreign cash incentives so that we can be certain that their allegiance would remain with Nigeria and not being shared with foreign nations just because of funds that can as well be provided for them by Nigeria.

Just like accepting $2M aid from a country and announcing same in the media as if it's a big deal when we have corrupt officials stashing away millions of dollars.

I agree with the idea that the Nigerian should be tried for trying to defraud an individual where as the foreigner should be tried for trying to defraud a nation.

I guess the intricacies of this so called online scam should be looked into so that we can start apportioning blames to relevant people instead of all the open ended statements and wastage of funds on seminars making false promises based on limited knowledge of the issue at hand.

Put differently, the so called victim should be sent down to Nigeria to face charges of financial crimes against Nigeria.

Exactly!

This is what I have said numerous times.

Actually EFCC could initiate a 419 deal.

They posse as initiator and encourage the victim to come to Nigeria to collect his riches, they get him/her arrested and sent to prison.

The news will spread like wildfire and 419 we be reduce over night.

EFCC is the greatest obstacle of corruption of all time.

@ topic
I totally agree. sometime back denex had started a topic like this in which we were encouraged to email EFCC with this suggestion which I did. I think more emails should be sent to them and we hope they look into it.

There is an anecdote that the efcc email is not real!

I have sent them mails often times with no response to it.

@babasin

luring potential investors into falling mugu in e-mail scams the last time i checked doesn't make them criminals.

@big b1

it is good to see that you now realise the purpose of the efcc (i.e. if i'm not misunderstanding you), because before efcc there was no obstruction at all.

I will rather deal with no obstruction than selectivity and vindictive operations.

You feel more comfortable and prepared if you know that you have no security guard in your neighbourhood than dealing with having a security guard that only confronts 1.1% of the thieves (his enemies) and allows his friends (other thieves) to rub your house from time to time.

It is purely senseless!

It is either you come correct or you get deported.

I don't settle and I will never worship half job well done.
There is no room for second place in my neighbourhood!

Disengaging the root is always the best way to solve a problem.

You can not continue to cut off the leaves and expect the timber tree to die.

EFCC needs to wake up and stop fooling themselves.

ojimbo IV:

@babasin

luring potential investors into falling mugu in e-mail scams the last time i checked doesn't make them criminals.

and who told you so
Why will you like to reap where you did not sow ?
If they are not criminals why would they pay money to clear goods you have no buiness with ?

luring potential investors into falling mugu in e-mail scams the last time i checked doesn't make them criminals.

This false. It is perfetcly legall and tenable in any law court all over the world.

In USA: police women are sometimes plant as decoy-prostitute to arrest men solicting for sex on the street.

Police can also set-you up. This is allowed but the 'attorney-general' needs to be aware whats going.

This is pro-active policing. It is missing in Nigeria because we like reactive Policing.

babasin:

This false. It is perfetcly legall and tenable in any law court all over the world.

In USA: police women are sometimes plant as decoy-prostitute to arrest men solicting for sex on the street.

Police can also set-you up. This is allowed but the 'attorney-general' needs to be aware whats going.

This is pro-active policing. It is missing in Nigeria because we like reactive Policing.

my man, you can't bring in analogy in prostitution and e-mail scamming, both are mutually disjointed events. and fyi kerb crawlers are protected by law (provided they operate within their domains) and not the proposers.

i'll have to agree with you on the issue of pro-active policing but if this is what it entails i'm afraid it ain't going nowhere. you might want to consider the consequences of the possibility of suing for damages caused as a result of the hoax.

The scam victims are seen as the heroes; no one is paying attention to their shady intentions.
I think they deserve to be prosecuted just like the scammer

mdsocks:

and who told you so
Why will you like to reap where you did not sow ?
If they are not criminals why would they pay money to clear goods you have no buiness with ?

i think you might want to reconsider the definition of business my man.

it takes trust to do business. if you follow the stories of the victims of e-mail scams you wouldn't need a degree in sociology to know that they trusted their perceived 'business partners'. u can fault them for not reading between the lines but to say they are criminals, for crying out loud that's a far cry from it.

and please they ain't seen as no heroes, i'm sure they'll be kicking themselves in the face everytime they think of it.

We are afriad of the whitemen thats why we dont want to arrest them in Nigeria for their conspiracy to defraud the FGN. They are accessory to fraud and as such must be arrested and prosecuted in Nigeria otherwise they will still be following for the scam. It takes two to tangle so the two must face the law if we must make a headway in this fight against online scam.

ojimbo IV:

i think you might want to reconsider the definition of business my man.
it takes trust to do business. if you follow the stories of the victims of e-mail scams you wouldn't need a degree in sociology to know that they trusted their perceived 'business partners'. u can fault them for not reading between the lines but to say they are criminals, for crying out loud that's a far cry from it.

My brother i dont think you have seen the business proposal sent by this scam artist b4 otherwise you will not categorise who ever respond to such business proposal as a genuine bizman. How can you recieve where you did not work and call yourself a true biz man. You have not been to 9ja b4, have no contract with NNPC yet you want to stand as a contractor to receive your contract sum. Thats fraud and not business. If its business then the fraud starts are business men as well.

presido1:

We are afriad of the whitemen thats why we don't want to arrest them in Nigeria for their conspiracy to defraud the FGN. They are accessory to fraud and as such must be arrested and prosecuted in Nigeria otherwise they will still be following for the scam. It takes two to tangle so the two must face the law if we must make a headway in this fight against online scam.

in business my man, you'll have to agree with me that you need capital. this is what the mugu sees the investment as. you should bear it in mind that the scammer doesn't spell it out to the mugu that the business entails defrauding nigeria because if he does that's as far as the business goes. so you can't categorically say that the mugu is commiting a crime by investing in a farce deal.

My brother let me google one of their formats and paste it here for you to see.

Lagos, Nigeria.
Attention: The President/CEO

Dear Sir,

Confidential Business Proposal

Having consulted with my colleagues and based on the information gathered from the Nigerian Chambers Of Commerce And Industry, I have the privilege to request your assistance to transfer the sum of $47,500,000.00 (forty seven million, five hundred thousand United States dollars) into your accounts. The above sum resulted from an over-invoiced contract, executed, commissioned and paid for about five years (5) ago by a foreign contractor. This action was however intentional and since then the fund has been in a suspense account at The Central Bank Of Nigeria Apex Bank.
We are now ready to transfer the fund overseas and that is where you come in. It is important to inform you that as civil servants, we are forbidden to operate a foreign account; that is why we require your assistance. The total sum will be shared as follows: 70% for us, 25% for you and 5% for local and international expenses incidental to the transfer.

The transfer is risk free on both sides. I am an accountant with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). If you find this proposal acceptable, we shall require the following documents:

(a) your banker's name, telephone, account and fax numbers.

(b) your private telephone and fax numbers —for confidentiality and easy communication.

(c) your letter-headed paper stamped and signed.

Alternatively we will furnish you with the text of what to type into your letter-headed paper, along with a breakdown explaining, comprehensively what we require of you. The business will take us thirty (30) working days to accomplish.

Please reply urgently.

Best regards

Howgul Abul Arhu
==============================================================================================



FROM: Dr Altaka Yurmani

Central Bank of Nigeria

Lagos, Nigeria

01-658-21-2658

TO: CEO

Everytown, USA

Dear Sir:

I have been requested by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company to contact you for assistance in resolving a matter. The Nigerian National Petroleum Company has recently concluded a large number of contracts for oil exploration in the sub-Sahara region. The contracts have immediately produced moneys equaling US$40,000,000. The Nigerian National Petroleum Company is desirous of oil exploration in other parts of the world, however, because of certain regulations of the Nigerian Government, it is unable to move these funds to another region.

You assistance is requested as a non-Nigerian citizen to assist the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, and also the Central Bank of Nigeria, in moving these funds out of Nigeria. If the funds can be transferred to your name, in your United States account, then you can forward the funds as directed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company. In exchange for your accommodating services, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company would agree to allow you to retain 10%, or US$4 million of this amount.

However, to be a legitimate transferee of these moneys according to Nigerian law, you must presently be a depositor of at least US$100,000 in a Nigerian bank which is regulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

If it will be possible for you to assist us, we would be most grateful. We suggest that you meet with us in person in Lagos, and that during your visit I introduce you to the representatives of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, as well as with certain officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Please call me at your earliest convenience at 18-467-4975. Time is of the essence in this matter; very quickly the Nigerian Government will realize that the Central Bank is maintaining this amount on deposit, and attempt to levy certain depository taxes on it.

Yours truly,

Prince Alyusi Islassis

Long live the EFCC!

presido1:

My brother i don't think you have seen the business proposal sent by this scam artist before otherwise you will not categorise who ever respond to such business proposal as a genuine businessman. How can you recieve where you did not work and call yourself a true biz man. You have not been to Nigeria before, have no contract with NNPC yet you want to stand as a contractor to receive your contract sum. Thats fraud and not business. If its business then the fraud starts are business men as well.

thanks for the google effort.

i have come across a lot of these sham e-mails and baited a couple of them. for the victims that front as contractors or whatever, YES that is illegal, but you'll have to agree with me that you'll never see them on the news admitting that they are victims, because they know the consequences. for the majority of the victims who fall for the capital oriented scams, i don't see that as a crime.

Anybody that falls for this scam is a scam artist himself. Do u think that they will return the money as planned if that fund happends to enter their account.
One convinced of an opinion is of the same opinion.

Good Day,

Although, I do not know you in person, I have received your contact via, personal search while seeking a reliable but obscure individual to assist me in this pending transaction. It became necessary for me to seek your assistance as I Want you to Assist in investing my share of the money in your Country.
Let me start by introducing myself. I am Dr.Ishak Oduro the chief corporate officer auditing department Ecobank Ghana ltd.Accra Ghana. I have a Obscured business suggestion for you.
I am writting to seek your coperation over this transaction,after the annual auditing of the year 2006,I discovered an abandoned sum of ($26,000,000 USD(Twenty six million United State dollars) in an account that belongs to one of our foreign customers who died along with his entire family in a plane crash that took place in Kenya,East Africa,the Late DR. GEORGE BRUMLEY,a citizen of Atlanta,United States of America.
Since we got information about his death, we have been expecting his next of kin to come over and claim his money because it cannot be released unless somebody applies for it as next of kin or relation to the deceased as indicated in our banking guidelines but unfortunately,all his supposed next of kin or relation died along with him in the plane crash leaving nobody behind for the claim.
It's therefore upon this discovery that I now decided to make this business proposal to you to make sure his balance of fund will be released to you via your foreign bank account as the next of kin or relation to the deceased for safety and subsequent disbursement since nobody is coming for it and this money could go into the Federal treasury as "unclaimed Bill".
The Banking law and guideline here stipulates that if such money remained unclamed after four years, the money will be transfered into the federal treasury as unclaimed fund.I think it will be better for us to put a major part of this funds into helping people suffering from aids,orphans,displaced persons,etc and keep some percentage,instead of letting some dubious leaders put this funds in their personal pockets.
The request for your assistance and maximum co-operation as a foreign citizen to stand as the next of kin in this business is occasioned by the fact that the deceased customer was a foreigner and a Ghananian cannot stand as next of kin to a foreigner.
Due to my position in the bank you will play a vital role in the pulling out the funds since i cannot come out openly and as a foreigner you will be in a more favourable position to claim these funds.
I agree to offer you 30% of this money as my foreign partner as soon as we conclude the transfer into your account. 10% will be set aside for expences incurred during the transfer and 30% would be for me,while we use the remaining 30% to assist the needy.
You are to send to me the following informations,if you are willing to work with me;
NAME:
ADDRESS:
OCCUPATION:
PHONE NUMBER:
I will not fail to bring to your notice that this transaction is strictly confidential and i will use my position in this Bank to effect a hitch free transfer of this fund into any of your private account.
Please, visit the website below for more informations about the Plane Crash and the tragic death of the deceased and his entire family,
Late DR. GEORGE BRUMLEY. SITE.http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/africa/07/20/kenya.crash/index.html
Your earliest response to this letter will be appreciated.

Yours Sincerely,
Dr.Ishak Oduro
Private Email:dr.ishak_oduro@hotmail.com

@presido1
like minds synergise no doubt , the proposals only state that they were going to have a fraction of the lot. so now my man you knowing how the western banking system operates more than i do by virtue of your location, tell me if they cannot be traced. if for instance the deal was real and they get the money and decide not to deliver as agreed; then they will be commiting a crime, and can be dealt with if the case goes to court.

collaborators aka victims of 419 scams are equally if not more guilty than the scammers. they make the biz thrive as there is no biz without customers. they should be apprehended and prosecuted accordingly. no need to try and excuse them cos it just wont fly with any reasonable person.

They can be traced thats quite sure but what happend when the nigerian officials will not want to enter trouble themselves. Let take it that you are one of the CBN officers(but u are not) that transfered the fund and the man refused to do as agreed will you fly to england or US to trace the account? knowing fully well that you have 1% chance to escape jail. What will you tell them was the source of the fund you transfered. Before now it is very easy to open a bank account as such the partner can obtain a bank account with fake identity(do u think fake is peculier to 9ja only) and documents and forward to as far as he know he will sit on the fund when transfered.

The more reason why the collaborators should be invited to nigeria for investigation and sebsequently punished when they complain of having been duped.

presido1:

They can be traced thats quite sure but what happend when the nigerian officials will not want to enter trouble themselves. Let take it that you are one of the CBN officers(but u are not) that transfered the fund and the man refused to do as agreed will you fly to england or US to trace the account? knowing fully well that you have 1% chance to escape jail. What will you tell them was the source of the fund you transfered. Before now it is very easy to open a bank account as such the partner can obtain a bank account with fake identity(do u think fake is peculier to Nigeria only) and documents and forward to as far as he know he will sit on the fund when transfered.

if the initiator, knowing the deal is legit, can't be bothered to chase the proceeds, then there goes his money. simple as that.

Ah. The usual 'blame the victims' approach. It's a favourite with criminals and 419 kingpins, a ready excuse for their crimes.
should honest people think that way?
I'm a bit pressed for time, will be back with my own opinions.

Well people are convicted for intention to murder,

The victims of 419 scam mails fall prey because of their intention to aid money laundary

We all know the position of international law on money laundary but what am not sure is whether intention to commit money laundary is also a crime. If it is then they should be prosecuted but if its not then that area of international law need to be strengthened.

419 is lucrative because of greed of the whiteman.