Don’t Get “Scammed” Looking for Easy Money
Don’t Get "Scammed" Looking for Easy Money
Oregon Lodging Association’s "Lodging News"
May 2003
How would you like to earn 30% of $10 million to $60 million for doing almost nothing? I sure would. Well, this is precisely the attitude that a certain fraudulent scheme is attempting to seize upon to take your money. This scam is known as the "4-1-9" or "Advanced Fee Fraud" scheme and the United States Secret Service estimates that this scheme may gross hundreds of millions of dollars annually. The good news is that the U.S. government is actively trying to shut down this scheme. The bad news is that the perpetrators of the fraud are continuing to send out e-mails, faxes and letters in an ongoing effort to trick unsuspecting business owners and individuals into thinking that they, in fact, have been selected for the unique and lucrative opportunity to make easy money.
The scam goes something like this. You receive an e-mail from an "official" within the Nigerian government, the South African government, or some other government in the region. The scam was originally "based" out of Nigeria but an e-mail that was recently received from an OLA member and forwarded to our office for review purported to be from a "Dr. Benson Makelele" of the "South African Department of Mining Resources." The e-mail explains how your name was forwarded to Dr. Makelele from "a member of the South African Export Promotion Council (SAEPC) who was with the Black Economic Empowerment Commission (Government) delegation on a trip to the United States during a bilateral conference talk to encourage foreign investors." Dr. Makelele is now contacting you to "seek confidential co-operation (sic) with you in execution of a business transaction hereunder for the benefit of all parties."
As you can see, the person who drafted the e-mail makes a concerted effort to convince you of the legitimacy of this opportunity by establishing that the South African government is involved. The U.S. Secret Service notes that offices in legitimate government buildings appear to have been used by impostors posing as the real occupants or officials in furtherance of this scheme.
The e-mail then proceeds to explain just enough of the details of this scam necessary to hook the intended victim. The U.S. government estimates that about 90% of the so-called "4-1-9" scams, named after a relevant portion of the Nigerian Penal Code, involved over-invoiced contract scams. In the e-mail received from Dr. Makelele, you are told that the South African government has erroneously over-invoiced large government contracts to the tune of $14.3 million, which amounts have been paid and are simply waiting to be disbursed. The problem is that Dr. Makelele cannot get access to these funds without your help, for which they will pay you 30% of the funds. Of course, Dr. Makelele reminds you that this venture is "100% safe" and that "it does not matter whether or not your company does contract projects of the nature described here." In other words, this is free money at no cost to you.
The e-mail described above is simply the first step in the fraudulent scheme. It is designed to gain your trust and to encourage you to seek additional information. Once you have requested additional information, and the groundwork has been laid, Dr. Makelele will request the payment of certain fees, with each one likely to be the last one he will need. You will be encouraged to pay these fees because you will be shown very official looking government documents that will request such fees. This will go on and on until the well dries up.
Over-invoiced contracts are the most prevalent form of the scam; however, other forms have been identified by the Secret Service including disbursement of money from wills, contract fraud (C.O.D. of goods and services), purchase of real estate, conversion of hard currency, and the sale of crude oil at below market prices. An e-mail recently received in our office purported to be from a person from Abidjan, Ivory Coast who needed assistance in gaining access to $16.5 million in funds left to him by his wealthy father. For your services, you would be paid 15% of these funds. This e-mail was nearly identical to other e-mails received with the only difference being the substitution of the name of the person and their home country.
While recognizing that these solicitations appear far fetched on their face, and that most business and individuals will not fall for this fraud, it appears that many people have fallen prey to the likes of Dr. Makelele and his cohorts. The Financial Crimes Division of the U.S. Secret Services notes that it receives approximately 100 calls per day from victims or potential victims, and 300-500 pieces of related correspondence per day. To combat this problem, the Secret Service has placed agents at the American Embassy in Lagos, Nigeria and is making every effort to inform the public of this scheme. Both the U.S. Secret Service () and the U.S. State Department () have established internet web sites where you can go to get more information.
Your first and best line of defense in a scam like this is to be very critical and wary of unsolicited offers to take part in a business venture. As is frequently stated, but is still good advice, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. This always seems to be true whether it involves free money, easy weight loss, or rapid hair re-growth. In the event you have been solicited by "Dr. Makelele" or anyone else under this scheme, we strongly encourage you to notify the U.S. Secret Service at the web site listed above.