The 419 fraud, 419 scam, or advance-fee fraud isn't new in fact its been around since the 16 century. Back then it was called the "Spanish Prisoner Letter". A wealthy man was in prison and needed help(money)to get out of prison for bribes and etc. The targets were wealthy merchants and churches, the delivery method was Postal mail(1).
You've probably received emails quoting religious words, or proclaiming a belief in God. They claim they want or need help. What they really want is to defraud you.
Greed is the only motive for these frauds. The hunger for excessive material possessions by these fraudsters is equal to or greater than that of anyone in the west. Some justify their corrupt actions, by saying they are striking back for past wrongs.
Why don't they go after the very thing they claim to hold in contempt? Western governments and power brokers? Why? They know they may get caught, and they don't have the courage of their convictions to attempt this.
Instead they choose softer targets. Targets who may not agree with what their country or its power brokers have done in the past. These targets may have suffered under their own government oppression. Many Fraudsters victimize people in their own country. So any ideology a fraudster claims is hogwash
The only thing this fraud is about is greed. God of any religion has nothing to do with it, they will rape their God as well as country if the price is right.
What does religions they cite say about their actions?
Islam
And take not your oaths, to practise deception between yourselves, with the result that someone's foot may slip after it was firmly planted, and ye may have to taste the evil (consequences) of having hindered (men) from the Path of Allah, and a Mighty Wrath descend on you. 16:94 Surah The Bee
Woe to those that deal in fraud,83.1 Surah Al-Mutaffifin
"Give just measure, and cause no loss (to others by fraud). Sura Ash-Shu'araa 26:181
"May Allaah curse the thief who steals an egg and has his hand cut off, or steals a rope and has his hand cut off." al-Bukhaari, al-Hudood, 6285
"And those saved from the covetousness of their own souls,- they are the ones that achieve prosperity."59:9 Surah Al-Hashr, The Gathering
"And do not make your oaths a means of deceit between you, lest a foot should slip after its stability and you should taste evil because you turned away from Allah's way and grievous punishment be your (lot)." quran c. 651 AD
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) cursed the thief because he is a corrupt element in society, and if he is left unpunished, his corruption will spread and infect the body of the ummah. He (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, "May Allaah curse the thief who steals an egg and has his hand cut off, or steals a rope and has his hand cut off." (al Bukhaari, al Hudood, 6285).
Spend [in God's way] the best of that which you have lawfully earned. (Al Baqarah 2: 267)
When a man commits a small sin, it leaves a black mark on his heart. If, subsequently, the man sincerely repents and resolves to correct himself, then this mark is cleared and once again leaves his heart shining bright. But if the man keeps indulging in the sin, the black mark can ultimately completely encompass his heart. (Tirmidhi, Kitaab al Tafseer, Narrative No. 3257)
Christianity
King James Version
Proverbs 11:18 The wicked worketh a deceitful work: but to him that soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward.
Leviticus 6:02 If a soul sin, and commit a trespass against the LORD, and lie unto his neighbour in that which was delivered him to keep, or in fellowship, or in a thing taken away by violence, or hath deceived his neighbour;
Exodus 23:1-2
1Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.
2Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment:
Leviticus 19:13 Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning.
Exodus 20:15Thou shalt not steal.
When some people hear the name Nigeria, they can think of things less than positive. The Nigerian, government has done questionable things in the past, and other officials have acted than honorably. Outside companies have come to exploit, her resources.
The 419 fraud isn't exclusively Nigerian, problem about 77 percent of the fraud committed outside Nigeria is not committed by Nigerians (2).
419 scammers in Nigeria also target there fellow Nigerians for crimes, no one is spared from their criminal enterprise (3 ).
This crime victimizing the honest Nigerians in other ways. A Nigerian police commissioner, Hafiz Ringim said about 419 fraud, "It's killing the economy of this country," and he continued People don't want any business to do with Nigeria. Every Nigerian is a potential suspect, a potential criminal: that's what most of the world believes."(4 )
But are these things Nigeria? No, Nigeria is the people who reside there. The people, are a countries only tangible asset. We should consider the people as a whole, when judging a class of people.
Nigerian Agbani Darego, beat out 93 other contestants to be crowned Miss World in 2001. (5 )
The National Stadium in Surulere, hosted the finals of the African Cup of Nations twice 1980 and 2000. It's also one of the few stadiums left that hosted the All African Games when it was held in 1973. (6 )
3 Nigerian scientist, Colonel Dr. Otu Oviemo Ovadje, professors Batholomew Nnaji(of the University of Pittsburgh), and (Temple University Graduate School) Henrientta Ukwu where honor by receiving United Kingdoms Science and Technology Award in 2001 (7 )
In 2003 the Nigerian swim team won two gold medals, one silver and, three bronze in the first Afro-Asian Games in Hyderabad, India.(8 )
University Students Idoremeniyin Mfon, Godwin Imeh, Ofonmbuk Nnamnso, Egwin Adindu, Okusiriki Solomon Ebikife and Akpanuko Essien Ekerette won a bronze medal in the Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) competition held in Germany in 2004. The competed against 1,400 universities in 33 countries. (9).
Nigeria is also the home of Nobel Prize winner author Wole Soyinka(10 ) .
Nigerian writer Segun Afolabi won the Caine Prize for African writing on 7-4-2005. Segun was awarded $15,000 for his short story. (11 )
Youth football team, the Flying Eagles of Nigeria won the African Youth Championship (AYC)Young Pharaohs of Egypt, in 2005. (12 )
Nigeria Youth Salim Abubakar, did not only his parents proud, but his country when he returned 853,000 naira ($6,437 USD) he found in Maiduguri. (13 )
The people of Nigeria gave 6 million dollars to victims of the tsunami and Hurricane Katrina. This is on top of a 1 million dollar donation from the Nigeria to Hurricane Katrina relief efforts (14 )
Rev. Fr Prof Emmanuel M.P Edeh (CSSp), founded the first University in Nigeria, Madonna University received the honor of Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) in Nigeria. Due to his contributions to Nigeria's educational and spiritual development. He was the first Nigerian to articulate African Philosophy, through his Igbo metaphysics.(15 )
Nigerian business man Femi Otedola has a heart as big as all of Africa. He has given money for schooling of underprivileged students Epe area of Lagos State a lot of his students went on to career field like lawyers, doctors and engineers (16 16. "Nigeria: Femi Otedola's Heart of Gold Emma Maduabuchi 1 December 2008 AllAfrica.com, Washington ).
Alhaji Mustapha Bin Umar Kyari Amin El-Kanemi (19th Shehu of Borno) of Borno Emirate died on February 21, 2009. During his life he promoted peace, generosity and Islam. He is quoted as saying "I shall make every effort to be honest in dealing with my people and uphold Justice, Rule of law and Fair play. I shall always work for the peace and progress of my people, irrespective of ethnic origin, religion or place of birth... (and I ) will do my best... To bring about improvements in the standard of living of the entire people of our Emirate" (17 )The 419 fraud deals with a unknown person contacting you about a large sum of money. This mythical money can be from a lottery you won, a perfectly legal source or illegally gotten money that needs to be laundered.
The money is gotten from its victims, by an ever-increasing amount of fees, charges or penalties. Needless to say if you give sensitive financial information to a fraudster, this would be another way to lose money.
A good rule of thumb is if someone you don't know is offering you cash for something you have no idea about. The chances are VERY good it is a con. No offer like this no matter what country they come from should be consider valid.
South African police said about organized crime in their country, "Domestic organised crime groups are involved in virtually every area of criminal activity engaged in by transnational groups, from drug trafficking to fraud, from the trade in humans to the 419 scams. In some cases they work co-operatively with transnational groups, such as the involvement of local groups with Pakistani drug traffickers, while others work on their own." (18).
In Nigeria the 419 fraud can be run by crime syndicates, west African crime syndicates operate in 80 countries. along with the 419 fraud they also make money in drug smuggling and human trafficking (19).
Research by United States Agency for International Development noted West African organized crime syndicates were involved in human trafficking and said "Black and coloured girls, aged between 18 and 21, are being lured from their homes mainly for prostitution, but also to be used as cheap domestic labour,"(20).
419 fraudsters also align themselves with others to commit the fraud. Corrupt British business men have been recruited to take part in 419 frauds(21).
The FBI's Internet fraud complaint center said that victims of 419 fraud lose an average of $3,400 each (22).
Early in the new millennium, annual losses to this scam in the United States total more than $100 million, and law enforcement officials believe global losses may total over $1.5 billion (23).
Valerie McNiven, who advises the U.S. Treasury on cybercrime said in 2005 "Last year was the first year that proceeds from cybercrime were greater than proceeds from the sale of illegal drugs, and that was, I believe, over $105 billion," (24).
This could be a fraction of real losses, only 1 in ten victims of this fraud report this fraud to the authorities (25).
The National Bank of Nigeria warned the 419 fraud, "has continued unabated with increasing sophistication,"(26).
These Scams can be so clever that even extremely intelligent people can be duped. Barry Elliott a Detective Staff Sergeant of the Ontario Provincial Police and the creator and coordinator of Phonebusters, Canada's central agency for telemarketing, 419 scams, Internet fraud and identity theft said, "Most of the victims are intelligent professional business people, "(27).
British financial-crimes consultant Peter Lilley said, "Most people just can't understand how anyone could fall for such offers out of the blue," and he continued "But this is one of the most organized criminal operations in the world with very sophisticated cells operating on a global scale." (28).
Even people would consider intelligent fall for this scam. Peter Tachauer, a detective sergeant with the City of London police, is investigating 419 fraud emails and faxes sent to doctors. He knows of at least two physicians who lost collectively 100,000 dollars (29).
These are not isolated causes of doctors being taken. In August of 2000 Ali-Reza Ghasemi, MD was contact by someone claiming to be from Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. when it was finally finished he lost $400,000.00. No arrest have been made in this case(30).
A victim attorney Lester Turner, said about the purveyors of this fraud, "You wouldn't believe these guys. They are so convincing," he also said "They look good and sound good, and they have phony documentation and references."(31).
Mr Turner is one of the lucky ones others who have met with these fraudsters have been kidnaped, and held for ransom (32).
South African police rescued one kidnap victim Rumanian Danut Mircea Tetrescu who was held for $50,000 ransom(33).
A former Mayor of Northampton, Josef Raca, was kidnapped by 419 scammers, he said about his ordeal, 'I don't mind telling you I was very frightened,' he said. 'I crawled and begged and kept trying to persuade them not to kill me (34).
A Japanese business man, Kensuke Matsumoto as kidnaped and held for ransom, 419 scammers. He escaped when he ran into a sushi restaurant (35).
Other 419 fraud kidnapped victims are Swedish businessman Kenth Sadaaki and a Japanese national Osamai Hitomi was tortured and held for a $5-million(36 ).
Being a victim of fraud can be too much for some to bare, they commit suicide.
419 fraud victim Jerry Stratton, killed himself because of this fraud. In his suicide note he said, "If anything happens to me, look for three people. They are Nigerians. They are responsible." (37 ).
An accountant from Canada killed himself after he was conned out of one hundred thousand dollars of his own company's money (38 ).
Some who have dared to venture to the fraudsters home turf have been murdered (39 ). A few are:
A Canadian business man Jean Pierre Li Shing Tat was shot twice through the head and killed by 419 scammers when he visited South Africa as part of the scam (40).
A Greek man George Makronalli was lured to South Africa as part of a 419 scam. His badly mutilated corpse was found short before Christmas in 2004 (41 ).
A gang of seven South Africans and Nigerians are also believed to be responsible for disappearance of a Norwegian industrialist (42 ).
If the 419 fraud is not now being used to fund terror, it's a safe bet that it will in the near future. Remember terrorist need massive amounts of untraceable money. Other frauds have already tied to terrorism
"It is a paradox: Those movements who criticize Western technology and modernity are using the West's most advanced communication technology, the Internet, to spread their message," Gabriel Weimann, a professor in Israel who follows cyberterrorism, said in an e-mail (43 ).
Imam Samudra who was convicted of a bombing in Bali, Indonesia, in 2002 wrote manifesto on funding terror through cyber fraud (44 ).
"Long before someone commits a major terrorist act, they've engaged in a number of other crimes: Document fraud involving visas; fraud involving the use of false names, false addresses, and false movement; games with money ... and so on," said Jonathan M. Winer, a former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for international law enforcement (45 ).
In Iowa, Secret Service agents last Friday rearrested Youssef Hmimssa(terrorism suspect), a fugitive who fled a warrant issued in May in a case involving credit card fraud in which, investigators believe, he obtained numbers from online customer databases (46 ).
The FBI, told delegates at a conference that credit card fraud was a major source of funding terrorism (47).
Institute for Public Policy released research in that said "the grid of connections between terrorism and criminal networks has been highly crisscrossed. The increasing sophistication of both information and communications technologies and criminal gangs and terrorist groups themselves makes the scale of the challenge considerable." (48 ).
These "people" not only desecrate and annihilate people and their finances. They also defile, and destroy a people and its culture. It is now time we declare a holy war on them and their kind.
To my Cites
Back to main page