World's Most Successful Scam

2008-05-27 10:31

This scam has reportedly caused the highest losses, highest number of organized perpetrators, and the highest number of victims. According to a report written by the 419 Unit of Ultrascan Advanced Global Investigations, the 419 Nigerian Advanced Fee Fraud is the fastest growing, and most devastating scam to date.

The Ultrascan Advanced Global Investigations is a group of 3,200 experts in 69 countries that specializes in Cross Border Crime Organizations and tracks fraud around the globe. The 419 Unit has released a report on the 419 Nigerian Advanced Fee Fraud scam to draw attention to the quickly growing industry that has caused billions of US dollars in losses, has millions of victims, and has the highest number of organized perpetrators - over 300,000 globally.

The report shows a history of the scam dating back to the 70's. It states, "The Nigerian 419 Advance Fee Fraud came to the attention of the public and regulators during the 1970s over letters generally aimed at small businesses purporting to come from figures in the Nigerian government (often the Central Bank or Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation) wanting help disposing of new oil wealth. Those letters were posted in Africa and Europe. In 2002 the US Department of Justice gained a court order to open every item of mail from Nigeria passing through JFK airport in New York, with around 70% involving scam offers. Russell Smith notes that between August and November 1998 Australia Post confiscated 4.5 tons of advance fee correspondence (1.8 million items) that had counterfeit postage. The 1980s and 1990s saw the scammers move from print to fax messaging followed by several explosions of email at the end of the millennium and in 2003, with the scammers spamming recipients in advanced economies (primarily those in English-speaking nations). The addressing of that email was indiscriminate, encompassing organizations and personal addresses."

From the 419 Units research, they have discovered some shocking statistics. Of all the check fraud reported, over 80% is Nigerian Advance Fee Fraud related, as well as 95% of lottery scams and 91% of last will, testament and inheritance scams.

The 419 Unit reports that through the use of spam email, 419 scams have tripled in volume. These 419 scams not only cause victims to lose money - it can cause bankruptcies, loss of careers and jobs, loss of the victim's home, and sometimes the victims face prosecutions for participating in the scam even if they are unaware that what they are doing is illegal.

Websites, such as Hoax-Slayer, post examples of scams that are in circulation to bring awareness and warn people not to fall for them. Hoax-Slayer describes the 419 scam as a usually unsolicited message that poses as a business propositions, a request for assistance, notice of a potential inheritance, or opportunity to help a charity. While there are countless versions of this scam, they all have the same theme in one aspect - they claim to need your assistance to access a large sum of money. Sometimes they state that legal issues preclude them from accessing funds in a foreign bank account, some suggest that you could claim you are a deceased person's next of kin in order to gain access to the funds, and there are also ones that claim a rich businessman has a terminal illness and needs your help to distribute his wealth. All of the messages offer to give you a significant amount of money for your participation. Once a person contacts the scammers, they are asked to pay fees for various reasons, but are ensured that they will be overly compensated afterwards. The victim will be continuously asked for advance payment of fees until they realize they are involved in a scam.

People are advised not to respond to these 419 scams. Any type of communication could lead the criminal to believe that you are a potential victim. And if given enough information, these 419 criminals could try to steal your identity. If you have already given money to Nigerian scammers, there is little chance that you will ever recover it. If you have received one of these scams in your mailbox, you should contact your local authorities and let them know.

Some may think that no one actually falls for these 419 scams, but just the opposite is true. This is a global problem. The Financial Crimes Division of the U.S Secret Service receives nearly 100 phone calls a day from victims and potential victims, and 300 - 500 pieces of related correspondence per day - and that's just the tip of the iceberg.