Talk:Advance-fee fraud

Proposed Legislation section cut

Most of this material seems to be simply a cut and paste job of very long press releases which lacks any sort of cohesion. Normally, I would cut and paste things I cut to the talk page, but due to the length I am going to simply cut it and if anyone wants to retrieve it they can do so by going into the history tab.

Moved book link to correct section

Moved link to book "The Singing Scammers" into the "Books" section with the others, noticed someone had deleted it from External Links.

removed ref to Mary Winkler from "Murder" section

Winkler was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced in June. The sentence was therefore out of date and not strictly accurate according to the ruling.

A sub-type of "419" letters

Quite often, if a person is _known_ to be male (e.q. has an account in a social network), "official's daughter" scheme can come in. This scheme often incorporates a photo of an attractive woman, who is a daughter of a rich person (sometimes the person is said to be dead). When an attractive woman wants your help in migrating to your country and promises a huge amount of cash, it's certainly an Advance-Fee Fraud. Just search the Internet for the email username (part before the @ symbol - e.q. in email 1@2.3, 1 is what you must search for). Yura87 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 15:32, 10 December 2010 (UTC).

Smart enough people will have already learned to treat any proposal made by a person they've never heard of before as a 419 scam. JIP | Talk 19:08, 9 March 2011 (UTC)

419 scam spelling mistakes are deliberate?

What proof or references are there to justify the article's assertion that the typical 419 emails' grammatical/spelling mistakes are deliberate? I see no logical reason to conclude this.

This is an analytical exposition, and from the way the author sounded it seems he had once been a victim of scam or he got his information first hand from a victim of fraudulent transactions involving Nigerian scammers. The word ‘419’ used by the author to explain the nature of the scam examined originally referred to section 419 of the Nigerian Criminal Code dealing with obtaining goods by false pretences. Although section 419 appeared in the footnote of the article the section was not properly examined to show that the word is used in reference to a section prohibiting the offence of obtaining by false pretences.

The author did not highlight the fact that due to the prominence of the offence which became an index with which Nigeria’s personality was defined globally constrained the Nigerian Legislature to enact an Act – Advance Fee Fraud and other Related Offences Act, 2006 which prohibits both the offences of obtaining property by false pretences and money laundering which enhanced the punishment to a term not more than 20 years and not less than 7 years without option of fine, as against the 3 years and 7 years imprisonment depending on the amount involved in the scam under the Criminal Code. This would have brought to the fore the efforts of the Nigerian government to curtail the menace of the offence.

The above would have led the author to examine the nexus between the offence of obtaining by false pretences and money laundering because those who obtain funds through such scams tend to disguise the nature, source and the origin of such funds by investing them in seemingly legitimate businesses. This would have had the effect of educating victims that they can trace their funds to such businesses.

The author also talked about ‘alert officials’ when it dawns on any victim that he has been duped. But he failed to mention the officials. These are the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC); the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA); and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). These are bodies charged with the responsibilities of monitoring all financial transactions in order to put any account under surveillance so as to trace the owners of any lodgment in a bank account. In fact section 12 of the Foreign Exchange (Monitoring and Miscellaneous Provision) Act 1995 empowers the Nigerian Customs Service to report any transactions to or from a foreign country made pursuant to this law when the funds or securities involves a sum greater than $10, 000.00. This is useful piece of information so that victims know where to run to in distressed periods.

The author should have used the appropriate words used for obtaining by false pretences in South Africa in the case of one Mr Osamai Hiromi, a Japanese business man lured to Johannesburg, South Africa by scammers instead of using 419scam a term popularly used in to Nigeria to refer to the offence of obtaining goods by false pretences under section 419 of the Criminal Code and now under Part 1 of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Related Offences Act, 2006.

The author examined the offence of kidnapping and, it is submitted that that did not derail the focus of the offence because in some cases the con men do lure their victims to their home countries who are eventually kidnapped and killed. On the whole the article is informative and educative as, it is a wake up call to users of the Internet and mobile phones to be wary of the email messages and text massages which offers them mouth watering deals.

Ikpe 00:00, 28 October 2011 (UTC)

Dr Suleiman Oji, Esq — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ikpe (talk • contribs) 00:00, 28 October 2011 (UTC)

Sources

• Kperogi, Farooq A. "Nigeria: 419 Scams - Setting the Records Straight (i)." Weekly Trust (Abuja). 6 August 2006.
  • He also wrote "Our image as a nation of scammers"

WhisperToMe (talk) 17:45, 1 September 2011 (UTC)