While checking the office mail you come across a poorly handwritten envelope addressed to you (or your company) postmarked from Lagos, Nigeria. Inside, on official looking stationery, is an unsolicited “confidential business proposal,” from someone purporting to be a Nigerian civil servant. The offer states:
You have just received an Advance Fee Fraud (AFF) letter, also known as “419” after the section of the Nigerian penal law that deals with this type of fraud.
AFF letters and faxes are confidence schemes and appear as various proposals from “officials” of Nigerian Government ministries, existing companies, or Nigerian Government contracts. The letters and faxes contain official-looking stationery with appropriate government seals, stamps, and signatures. The aforementioned AFF letter is an example of a transfer of funds from an over-invoiced contract.
The quality of AFF letters has evolved over the years, from poorly handwritten letters to more professional products prepared on word processors. Word processors also allow AFF criminals to generate more letters.
AFF criminals include university-educated professionals who are the best in the world for nonviolent spectacular crimes. AFF letters first surfaced in the mid-1980s around the time of the collapse of world oil prices, which is Nigeria’s main foreign exchange earner. Some Nigerians turned to crime in order to survive. Fraudulent schemes such as AFF succeeded in Nigeria, because Nigerian criminals took advantage of the fact that Nigerians speak English, the international language of business, and the country’s vast oil wealth and natural gas reserves—ranked 13th in the world—offer lucrative business opportunities that attract many foreign companies and individuals.
AFF confidence schemes are limited only by imagination, however, they usually fall into the following categories:
• Transfer of Funds From Over-Invoiced Contracts
• Contract Fraud (C.O.D. of Goods and Services)
• Conversion of Hard Currency (Black-Money)
• Sale of Crude Oil at Below Market Prices
• Purchase of Real Estate
• Disbursement of Money from Wills (Benefactor of a Will)
• Threat Scams or Extortion
• Clearinghouse
You have just received an Advance Fee Fraud (AFF) letter, also known as “419” after the section of the Nigerian penal law that deals with this type of fraud.
AFF letters and faxes are confidence schemes and appear as various proposals from “officials” of Nigerian Government ministries, existing companies, or Nigerian Government contracts. The letters and faxes contain official-looking stationery with appropriate government seals, stamps, and signatures. The aforementioned AFF letter is an example of a transfer of funds from an over-invoiced contract.
The quality of AFF letters has evolved over the years, from poorly handwritten letters to more professional products prepared on word processors. Word processors also allow AFF criminals to generate more letters.
AFF criminals include university-educated professionals who are the best in the world for nonviolent spectacular crimes. AFF letters first surfaced in the mid-1980s around the time of the collapse of world oil prices, which is Nigeria’s main foreign exchange earner. Some Nigerians turned to crime in order to survive. Fraudulent schemes such as AFF succeeded in Nigeria, because Nigerian criminals took advantage of the fact that Nigerians speak English, the international language of business, and the country’s vast oil wealth and natural gas reserves—ranked 13th in the world—offer lucrative business opportunities that attract many foreign companies and individuals.
AFF confidence schemes are limited only by imagination, however, they usually fall into the following categories:
• Transfer of Funds From Over-Invoiced Contracts
• Contract Fraud (C.O.D. of Goods and Services)
• Conversion of Hard Currency (Black-Money)
• Sale of Crude Oil at Below Market Prices
• Purchase of Real Estate
• Disbursement of Money from Wills (Benefactor of a Will)
• Threat Scams or Extortion
• Clearinghouse
