The Financial Services Commission warns the public against the activities of
With the advent of the internet and the increased access to worldwide communications, Advance Fee Frauds have become very popular in the last few years. Many people will be aware of the "Nigerian" type frauds in which you receive a letter or an e-mail requesting assistance to launder money and you will obtain a "cut" for your services. Remember:
If you heed this advice, then it is highly unlikely that you should become a victim of one of the following types of fraud.
Recently different variations of the same fraud have occurred. We have therefore included some of the most common types of Advance Fee Frauds. The list is not exhaustive and there may be many other examples being used to coax monies from an unwary investor.
These frauds are a very popular means of obtaining illicit funds in the West African region. They are commonly known as 419s, named after the relevant section of the Nigerian Criminal Code where most of these originate from. The majority of them involve requests for assistance to move large sums of monies in exchange for a substantial share of the cash in return.
These solicitations are typically addressed as ‘Urgent' or ‘Confidential'. First ask yourself, "Why have I received this". West African fraudsters are very adept at procuring telephone or business directories and have contacted you at random. Likewise, computer programs called ‘spiders' scour the Internet harvesting thousands of email addresses to which 419 messages are sent.
The basis of a 419 letter is a follows, with only names and minor details changing:
There is of course no money at the other end and the fraudsters will squeeze as much out of you as they can, in the way of ‘charges', ‘expenses', ‘taxes' and so on. They will also obtain personal or corporate details which they can use to commit further frauds. It is possible that in responding to these you yourself may be committing a criminal offence.
The next category most commonly used are the Tragic Accidents type of frauds. These solicitations are very similar to the 419s, but in these cases the writer informs you that someone with the same or very similar name to you has, for example been killed in a tragic accident in an African country. Despite their best efforts, the African country's officials have been unable to contact any next of kin and have decided to make you the sole benefactor of the ‘victim's' estate. For a sum of money, usually to cover their administration expenses, they will provide you with the monies from the estate. On no account should you send any monies and again the advice is to bin or delete these solicitations.
Following from the above the "Health Plea" type of frauds are usually letters or e-mails from people who ask for a donation for medical treatment for themselves or a close family relative of theirs. In this scenario the fraudsters play on the moral consciousness of the individual to obtain funds. Sadly these criminals obtain their money and run off with the funds never even coming close to be used for medical treatment.
Lastly we come to the Lottery (‘Lotto') Frauds which have recently experienced an increase. These advance fee frauds are a variation of the ‘419' letters and work using the same principle. In these circumstances you are first notified that you have won a huge prize (normally a million Euros or Dollars).
The recipient should of course know that he or she hasn't bought any tickets and that should be the end of the matter. Regrettably, greed often gets the better of many victims and anyone responding will then be asked to send an ‘administrative fee' or ‘tax charge' to facilitate the remittance of your ‘prize money.' They will also ask for details of your bank account so that your winnings can be sent to you via telegraphic transfer. Always remember you should be careful never to hand over personal details such as your bank account and credit card numbers until you have established the credentials of who you are dealing with.
Should you receive a letter or email such as the examples described above, simply bin or delete them. Do not reply, as this will simply confirm that your details are correct and you will receive further unwarranted solicitations.
If you wish to do something proactive you can report the sender to their Internet Service Provider (ISP) in cases of e-mail solicitations. Simply forward the message (in Outlook copy the ‘Internet headers' from ‘View', then ‘Options', as this will include the routing information they require) to abuse@ISP, e.g. abuse@gibnet.gi or abuse@hotmail.com.
The public should also be aware that this type of solicitation will not only refer to West African countries, but also deposed dictators, former generals or ministers in other countries, for example the former President Joseph Estrada in the Philippines.
The links provided below include many examples of Advance Fee type frauds and also include helpful advice of how to deal with unwarranted e-mails.
Please see some helpful e-mail links below for further information: