Lloyd
Williams
CYBER SCAMS come in various larcenous forms, from the usual Nigerian e-mail offering millions of American dollars from money illegally siphoned from oil companies or Government coffers, to advisories that you have just won big-payout lotteries for which you had never even bought a ticket.
Other racketeers set their sights lower, aiming to make their money on volume. So, instead of promising you millions, all they ask for is a mere US$29.95 for a chance to win US$48 million, for which prize, they tell you, you have already been short-listed.
Unbelievably, seemingly sensible, educated Jamaicans from all income groups and vocations and indeed thousands of people from throughout the world, get taken in by these Nigerian e-mail racketeers, losing hundreds of thousands of dollars to them.
Why? They are victims of their own greed seeking to get something for nothing, seeking to reap where they had not sown.
Typically, you get a letter, e-mailed via the Internet from Nigeria or elsewhere in Africa offering you the "opportunity" to get a percentage of millions of dollars that the letter writer, a self-described Government official, says he or she is trying to transfer illegally out of Nigeria. You are encouraged to send to the writer, using a facsimile number provided in the letter, information such as bank name, letterheads and account numbers and other identification information.
A WILLING VICTIM
According to an advisory from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, the scheme relies on convincing a willing victim, who has demonstrated a "propensity for larceny" by responding to the invitation, to send money to the writer of the letter in Nigeria in several instalments of increasing amounts for a variety of reasons. Payment of taxes, bribes to Government officials, and legal fees are often described in great detail with the promise that all expenses will be reimbursed as soon as the funds are spirited out of Nigeria. In actuality, the millions of dollars do not exist and the victim eventually ends up with nothing but loss.
Once the victim stops sending money, the perpetrators have been known to use the personal information and cheques that they received to impersonate the victim, draining bank accounts and credit card balances until the victim's assets are taken in their entirety.
"While such an invitation impresses most law-abiding citizens as a laughable hoax," the FBI advisory states, "millions of dollars in losses are caused by these schemes annually. Some victims have been lured to Nigeria, where they have been imprisoned against their will, in addition to losing large sums of money."
The Nigerian Government is not sympathetic to victims of these schemes, since the victims actually conspire to remove funds from Nigeria in a manner that is contrary to Nigerian law. The schemes themselves violate section 419 of the Nigerian Criminal Code, hence the label "419 Fraud."
The FBI offers the following tips to avoid Nigerian Letter or "419" Fraud: If you receive a letter from Nigeria asking you to send personal or banking information, do not reply in any manner. Send the letter to the U.S. Secret Service or the FBI. If you know someone who is corresponding in one of these schemes, encourage that person to contact the FBI or the U.S. Secret Service as soon as possible.
Be sceptical of individuals representing themselves as Nigerian or foreign government officials asking for your help in placing large sums of money in overseas bank accounts. Do not believe the promise of large sums of money for your co-operation. Guard your account information carefully.
Following are examples of typical scams which came to the attention of The Sunday Gleaner, recently:
A reporter got an e-mail from "LOTERIA LA PRIMITIVA, MADRID ESPAA", congratulating him on being "one of two winners of the Worldwideloteria la primitiva Madrid - Espaa computer ballot draws" entitling him to the "grand draw prize of 705,366.80 euros.
According to the e-mail, the winning file reference number of the prize was: "WWPL/ES/ 61-812087; ticket number 004 - 05117963 - 198."
The transfer of the prize was to be handled by a Prize Transfer Agent who should be contacted by e-mail and/or fax within a week of receiving the notice.
You are requested to either wire money to your "transfer agent" or send your bank particulars, including signed withdrawal slips for your bank accounts to an individual who would simply clean out your account while you wait in vain for the 705,000 euros you have "won".
Another e-mail offers "Calvary greetings to you in the name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ" from "Dr. (Mrs.) Doyin Abiola, a God-fearing person in sorrow, one of the widows of late Chief M. K. O. Abiola of Nigeria." She offers "huge sums of money", which has been deposited "with a private security company overseas for safe-keeping". She offers "a joint partnership with you" if you help her to "accommodate this money in your account while I give you a handsome percentage (say 20%) of the total sum at the successful completion of the transaction."
NECESSARY ARRANGEMENTS
You get in touch with her urgently and she makes the necessary arrangements.
One, from a woman calling herself Mrs. Jones, claimed she was married to a Dr. Harry Jones who worked with the Kuwait Embassy in Ivory Coast and who, before he died in 2000, deposited US$8.6 million with a finance/security company in Amsterdam, Holland.
She is childless and is dying of cancer and wants a church or a Christian individual to give the money to. If you contact her at the given e-mail address, she gives you a letter of authority making you her beneficiary and you'll get US$8.6 million just like that!
Another involves "Dr Jerry Obika", a civil servant in the Ministry of Health in Nigeria, whose late father left him US$45.5 million. He is looking for a "reliable foreigner who will assist me to move/invest the fund in a stable economy to secure fortune for the family. "He will give 25 per cent of the total sum as compensation for your kind assistance."
Every few days an e-mail arrives from the "wife" or "son" of a former ruler of Nigeria or from a chief, stating that they have stashed away millions of dollars that their husband or father had left for them and they are looking for somebody to share the legacy with.
Total U.S. e-commerce losses from those scams in 2003 were estimated at US$500 million.
Throughout the world daily an array of cyber crime schemes mulct thousands of individuals and businesses, resulting in the loss of millions of dollars. According to the FBI, cyber crime is, and will continue to be, one of its top priorities. "As computers play a more prominent role in everyday society, we can expect criminals to continue to exploit vulnerabilities and utilise computers for illegal purposes."
