James Bond has nothing on me. Want to see a real man of mystery and international intrigue? Look no further than yours truly.
It seems that I've gotten on the mailing list of a number of deposed dictators or their henchmen who are seeking to launder previously secreted monies, and they need me -- me! -- to help them. Zaire, Nigeria, Kazakhstan. If there's a warlord on the run, it seems I'm their man to turn to. Let's ignore for the moment the improbability that one of these leaders is really trying to contact me and concentrate on how these scams work. You do realize, don't you, that this is some sort of scam?
For a rather princely reward, all you need to do is help this former government official get his ill-gotten gains into a legitimate account. But you must send the official some money as a show of good faith. Oftentimes, as one might expect with these kinds of arrangements, problems arise, and the official will ask you to send some additional money to help bribe some other official. This might occur several more times... until you run out of money or come to your senses.
In the latest missive to reach my mailbox, the son of the governor of the former Central Bank of Zaire -- now the Democratic Republic of Congo -- managed to escape the country with $14 million. Undoubtedly he has read about my investing prowess here at The Motley Fool, and this potentate-in-exile needs my help. In addition to helping him place the money in legitimate accounts, he will reward me for giving him advice on how to invest the money.
According to the Internet Crime Complaint Center's 2003 Internet Fraud Report, "Nigerian Letter Fraud" is still a prevalent scam, with 73% of the people who reported the scam reported having lost money too, on average almost $5,500. Other than "confidence fraud" at $6,850, of which the Nigerian scam is a part, no other category of Internet fraud had a higher amount of money lost. The scam is so prevalent that all similar scams are known as Nigerian 4-1-9 scams, after the section of the Nigerian penal code that purportedly outlaws this type of operation. Bill Mann recently wrote about Dean Cameron, who turned the tables on the scammers and scammed them with a long-running correspondence that they eventually turned into a play!
The IC3 offers some tips to help you avoid being a victim of these Nigerian 4-1-9 scams:
- Be skeptical of emails purportedly from foreign officials seeking your assistance (I mean, really, why are they turning to you?).
- Do not believe the promise of large sums of money for your cooperation. (Translation: Don't be greedy!)
- Do not give out personal information regarding your bank accounts (ever!) to anyone over the Internet.
- If you are solicited, do not respond. (Hit the delete key -- do it now!)
Internet fraud of the Nigerian scam type continues to be a festering problem, oftentimes fueled by greed but also by a desire of good people to help others less fortunate. The IC3 received more than 124,000 complaints on all types of Internet fraud in 2003 and referred more than 95,000 of them to law enforcement agencies for action. Losses were more than $125 million! And these are just the ones that were reported; many people are too embarrassed to report they were taken in by a scam.
If you don't have writing skills to turn your travails into a skit, the next best thing to do with these scam emails is to simply delete them. Be a real man of mystery, and make them wonder why you haven't responded.
Fool contributor Rich Duprey enjoys reading such emails but never responds.
