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Follow UsThis multi-billion dollar "Nigeria 419 Scam" which has been on for over two decades now-moving from paper mail to fax to Internet mail-is well known to all international agencies, including the US federal agency, the FBI. Estimated to be the fifth-largest industry in Nigeria, it is also known as the "Advance Fee Fraud". However, the scam is better known as the "Nigeria 419"as it is covered under Section 419 of the Nigerian Penal Code. In fact, the then military leader Sani Abacha incorporated Section 419 into the Nigerian Penal Code on April 1, 1995 specifically to tackle the Advance Fee Frauds.
According the Internet Fraud Complain Center (IFCC) report of 2002, the year saw the number of Nigerian letter fraud complaints moving up from 2,600 to over 16,000. While the total dollar loss from all referred Internet fraud cases during 2002 was $54 million-the mean and the median dollar loss being $1,482 and $299 respectively-the Nigerian 419 letter fraud with a median loss of $3,400 is the highest dollar loss per incident as per IFCC's annual report.
The scam is simple: you get a mail saying a senior official of the Bank of Nigeria had stashed away $35 million and died without next of kin. Or, in one of various global variants, a Taiwanese "banker" writes saying a client has died in a car accident, leaving behind $30 million with no claimants. Can you stand in as next of kin, so that the money can be transferred to you? For your trouble, you would get 25%.
As victims get drawn in, the demands start: advance money for attorney fees, stamp paper, expenses, bribes… these can
range from US$5,000 to US$100,000 (one victim we traced out had just paid US$70,000 by a single cheques). They also try to draw the victim to Nigeria or another country, finally holding them to ransom to extort more money from them. Many victims have faced this plight - and lives have been lost.
Multiple "banks" in Hong Kong
Our investigation focused on one of the many groups behind this racket - a group using banking facilities in Hong Kong to run their 'business' seamlessly. The modus operandi is simple-while "funds in Nigeria" remained the primary bait, the objective was to deal through fronts based in Hong Kong, the USA and the UK. The so-called 'iron hand' image of these countries is being used to make the victims believe that it could be a real offer after all.
Our probes revealed that one of the gangs had at least seven such fronts-Origin Merchant Bank
(www.originmerbank.com), Banquedenationale Bank (www.banqedenationale.com), Global Banking Corp (www.global bankingcorp.com), Citi Express Banks Inc (www.citiexpressbank.com), Swiss Corps Inc (www.swisscorps.com), Eurocentral Union (http://eurocentralunion.com) and Transglobe express Co (http://transglobefinance.com)-specifically created for this purpose. In most cases that we looked into, victims were asked to deposit money in favor of either of these companies in a
'corresponding bank'.
Our investigations also reveal that the perpetrators had withdrawn HK $7.3 million (or Rs 4.3 crore) from one of their current accounts in a leading bank in Hong Kong using different modes-cash withdrawals using ATM and electronic transfer, all this in less that ten months between August 2002 and June 2003. Going by the average transaction amounts for all seven fronts, it is estimated that this one group has managed to wangle people out of nearly Rs 30 crore in a year's time.
Cyber News Service also contacted several of the victims and those negotiating with the culprits about the fraud, asking them to send us copies of the mails exchanged with the scamsters to probe for more proof. CNS reporters informed the victims about the scam, and some reported the matter to police.
A lady from China disclosed that she had sent $131,016 to one of the accounts, a gentleman from Kagawa, Japan had just sent $15,040. Another victim, Shaari Mohammad, had already paid a stamp duty of $3,200, and a further $1,100 as endorsement charges. All of them said they had decided not to send any more money. The lady in China has since reported the matter to the police in Hong Kong.
In a related development the Hong Kong Monetary Authority has issued a press release on June 19, 2003 warning people against any dealings with one of such front- Banquedenationale Bank. HKMA has also referred the website to the Hong Kong Police Force for further investigations. It has since been liaising with financial authorities in the US and UK to take appropriate action in cases related to the website. Our inquiry with the HKMA also reveled that the other six entities are not authorized institutions in Hong Kong and hence are not authorized under the Banking Ordinance to carry on banking business or the business of taking deposits in Hong Kong.