By Andy McCue, 27 November 2003 14:40
NEWS A proposed new crackdown on '419' email scams by the Nigerian government must give police powers to arrest the wealthy and well-connected criminals at the heart of the operation, according to the UK's National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS).
The 'advanced fee fraud' 419 emails promise recipients a share of the huge fortune of some dead politician or businessman in return for letting the transaction pass through their bank account. Victims end up sending their ID and financial details and an up-front 'processing' fee running into thousands of pounds, which the perpetrators then disappear with.
NCIS claims the fraud is responsible for the theft of £150m a year from the UK and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo said at a presidential committee on email scams this week that he plans to increase measures to crackdown on 419 criminals in his country.
A committee has been set up to consider recommendations including new legislation and a new agency to deal with the problem.
A spokesman for NCIS told silicon.com that the move will be welcomed by law enforcement agencies around the world but that any measures will need to go to the heart of these operations and target the powerful, rich and well-connected criminals in the region.
"We pick up the small fry and regional co-ordinators but what to date has eluded law enforcement are the really big boys, and some of them are very wealthy and well-connected," he said.
419 is still very much a problem in the UK with the average victim conned out of over £50,000. The NCIS spokesman said that the bigger picture is that this money is used to fund much more serious organised crime.
"We know the criminals are involved in heroin trafficking, immigration crime, vehicle theft and credit card crime," he said.
NCIS will wait to see what recommendations are proposed but said anything that gives law enforcement the chance to disrupt a link in the chain of organised crime is like "pulling the tail of a rather large tiger".
The Nigerian High Commission in London was contacted but was unavailable for comment.
Comments
There are 16 comments. Join the discussion
1. Brian G Faulkner
It never ceases to amaze me how people can fall for such scams, it is most blatantly odvious that is not possible to even the most unintelligent person or are the intelligent more stupid or just plain greedy.
Mind you, having said that, we can all full for something at sometime in our short lives.
2. Malcolm Loveday
Agreed, the police and the ISP's must co-operate to stamp this out, however I suspect that new legislation will need to be drawn up to cover this.
However, it's difficult to find sympathy for those who are either gullible or greedy enough to get conned.
3. anonymous
Crackdown - yeah right. Whenever I get one of these missives and ask the police who I should forward them to for info and action (maybe a sting) they don't seem to know anything. A few 'stings' would change the whole risk / reward for the fraudsters.
4. D.Juliuson CNI
I've read about this so called 419 more than enough times and I'm sick and tired of it. 419ers are crooks with no conscience, but what about the so called victims? They too should be locked up or warned. They encourage these criminals and they only complain when things go wrong. Why involve yourself in deals that look too good to be real. I've been contacted more than 25 times and never fell once. Why? They are not that smart and reading their e-mails, I could tell straightaway.
5. Frank Smith
Surely by now if you fall for this
scam you deserver to lose the money, or is that greed is stronger than common sense?
6. D.Juliuson CNI
I'm very sorry to say this. 419 started in 1982/83 in Nigeria by Indians that lived in Nigeria then. Nigerians were duped the whole thing was passed onto the next generations of 419ers who today are the "experts" in the field. Now, I've read so many reports on 419 and 419ers and believe me, the so called 419ers are not as smart as people think. Also, with over 25 scam e-mails that I've received from this people, most of them are from Ghana, South Africa, Netherlands and UK. It's not only Nigerians English, Indians and Pakistans are also involved in this so called scam of the century. Focusing on Nigeria makes 419ers in other countries get away with their crimes and it makes them believe that, they are invisible. There was a time in the UK when the whole thought Nigerians were the only fraudsters defrauding the DSS, when majority of them (The fraudsters)were from Zaire, India, Pakistan and Ghana. It makes no sense making people believe that, Nigerians are the worst people to do business with when the real Godfathers from other countries are getting away with their atrocities. People should be more open minded.
7. anonymous
It is quite clear that many of the 419 criminals are well-connected with the Nigerian government and perhaps senior officials in the banks. The only way they will be caught is if they are identified and their names circulated publicly, not just by Interpol. If there were a few spectacular arrests, say at Heathrow as they disembarked, that would go long way to deterring them. It is outrageous that the crime has been allowed to flourish for so long - not outrageous from the Nigerian point of view, Nigerian corruption and dishonesty is legendary and has been ever since the country gained its independence, scandalous from the point of view of the authorities in Europe and the U.S. who have done nothing to stop it. But then the anti-corruption authorities in this country are pathetic. I know of a fraud trial being held soon, where the incident happened TEN YEARS AGO. You would think the SFO were determined to get an aquittal.
8. anonymous
Most of the time it's just plain greed. In this world there is no such thing as something for nothing. I guess the people who were conned have learnt a very expensive lesson.
9. Don Tregartha
How much is policing this stuff costing the rest of us? £150m a year is a staggering amount of cash milked from stupid, greedy individuals. All of us could think of better ways to use this policing resource than to waste it protecting consenting adults from handing the keys to their castle over to the theives.
10. Alan McKenzie
In the immortal words of Litvak, the grandfather of the great Lanson E. Whipsnade, just before they sprung the trap . . .
"You can't cheat an honest man!"
11. anonymous
Brian, It amazes me too, but it's a sad fact that we have to monitor our MD's mail/email/phone calls to weed out such scams, He's just the kind of person that would send the company bank account details thinking he was going to help some poor old widow. (419ers don't take this as permission to send more)
12. anonymous
Does NCIS have so little to occupy them that they feel they must get involved with policing 419 scams? If people are so stupid and greedy, let alone willing to assist in performing a possible illegal act, then they deserve to be conned.
If something sounds too good to be true, then......
13. Kobus
I reckon anybody that sends money for the 419 emails deserve being ripped off. What a load of rubbish just reading through it. I get at least one a week of some South African' aunt who had an uncle that kicked the bucket and now want some money transferred. What a load of rubbish.
14. anonymous
Did someone really get their own back?
Could anyone confirm or refute the story about the "victim" of a 419 email who immediately set up a premium rate telephone number and passed this back to the originator of the email, who then proceeded to have a number of very frustrating and expensive phone calls trying to extract the "victim's" bank details. It's a good story, I can only hope that it's true.
15. anonymous
I have now submitted several of these to the police. Because simply forwarding the e-mail loses the internet headers (required for tracking the source) I have gone to the trouble of extracting these and incorporating them separately. Without them the police could do nothing anyway.
However, my request that the e-mails be acknowledged was not complied with. I have come to the conclusion that the police's interest in solving 419 scams is at about the same level as identifying who broke into my offices (twice), who stole some timber from outside my front door, who stole my car and who damaged its replacement while trying to break into it. That is to say, no interest at all.
I now have about twenty stored e-mails, a couple of faxes and even a hard copy letter. I think I might as well dump them.
As for people who knowingly participate in what must be fraud, straight-forward theft, a money-laundering scheme or a violation of a sovereign state's attempt to recover looted funds - they deserve what they get.
16. Mike Wells
It is well said that an honest man can not be cheated. But even so, it is more troubling to discover that an honest man can not trust another.
If we remove trust and truth from business engagement, what should be the future of exchange of services and goods?
The sad fact is that, purnishing 419ers by prison terms can not stop them from carrying on afterwards. But what may end this trend of cheating is to inbue the principle of honest in the young of these countries where this sort of conning is bred.
Invest some money in educating these youths on the values of trust, credibility of word and open mindedness. Each time I travel to Nigeria I return to my old school to educate the young: anything you receive for no service you have offered in exchange is not earned. And this is not a noble thing for a youth to do.
If i get support, the message will even spread.Nigerians will listen at a credible alternative.
Cheers