Nigerian scam makeover

The criminal mind does not seem to run out of ideas in taking advantage of the gullible and naïve.

Remember the “Nigerian scams” that gained notoriety in the 1990s?

At that time, a group of Nigerian students studying in the United States came out with a devious way of exploiting interest in the then oil exploration boom in their country.

From their US address, they sent e-mail to the unsuspecting offering shares of stock of Nigerian companies that supposedly won contracts from the Nigerian government to extract crude oil from its fields.

The sales pitch was impressive. It talked about the quality of the oil, its projected reserves and the oil refineries that have entered into long-term contracts with Nigerian companies.

Prospective investors were asked to e-mail their name, address and bank account numbers (including password) to an address that sounded like the London office of Nigeria’s central bank.

The promise of huge cash dividends enticed countless number of people into giving the requested information and buying the offered stocks by depositing their money in the bank accounts listed in the e-mail.

Fast forward, the Nigerian firms and exploration contracts turned out to be fictitious. The investments disappeared into thin air, including the money of those who carelessly disclosed the password of their bank accounts.

Copycats

This pioneer e-mail scam gave birth to similar schemes with different scenarios that showed the fertile imagination of the criminal minds behind them.

The copycat get-rich-quick schemes involved, among others, unclaimed Swiss deposits by deceased African dictators, estates left by business tycoons who died without heirs or whose heirs cannot be located, and philanthropic money available for charities in developing countries.

These scams either required the investor to deposit a sum of money in a certain bank account as initial contribution to the commercial activity; or to give information about their bank accounts where their contributions are supposed to be deducted from or to which accounts the returns on their investment will be credited.

After the deposits have been made or the bank accounts cleaned out, whichever comes first, all communications with the e-mailers stop and, with the source of the e-mail beyond tracing in spite of sophisticated tracking devices, the scammers go scot-free to prey on their next victims.

And the waiting does not usually take long because, as the saying goes, a sucker is born every minute, and the expectation of quick profits (read: greed) has an uncanny way of making people throw all caution to the wind in handling their money.

Reprise

The Nigerian scam has quietly resurfaced on the Internet with a twist that exploits the desire of earlier victims to recover what they believe they unfairly lost or should have otherwise gained.

The ploy this time is for the so-called victims of past Nigeria-related e-mail frauds to be reimbursed their investments or to (finally!) receive the profits promised to them.

Using an e-mail address that bears the name of a well-known multinational bank, the sender represents himself as a representative of the Nigerian government who wants to assist victims of investment solicitations that originated from Nigeria and other West African countries.

If you happen to be one of those unfortunate persons, so the e-mail goes, you may be eligible for compensation of up to $50,000. All you have to do to receive that money is send your name and address to the e-mail address indicated.

Since this kind of advisory would come as heaven-sent to the victims, no time will surely be wasted in sending the requested information to the “originating bank.”

The reply will not be long in coming. The victim will be told that his name does not appear in the bank’s database. But he should not feel bad, the e-mail quickly adds, there is a solution to the problem.

Caution

By sending a nominal fee (a minimum of $50 or higher, depending on the amount of the earlier investment), his eligibility for compensation will be given a second look.

If the verification process yields positive results, the fee will be refunded and the promised compensation will be immediately given to the deserving victim.

In case, however, the database show otherwise, the fee shall be reimbursed by way of credit to his bank account, the details of which, you guessed it right, have to be supplied by the victim. Very clever.

Upon reading this e-mail, the first question that should come to a rational or straight thinking person’s mind is: How can a database of victims be created when nobody, not even the Nigerian government, kept track of the people who fell for the scams?

Understandably, this remake of the Nigerian scams was not meant to appeal to reason, but to the emotions of those who felt cheated by what they thought was a shortcut to fabulous wealth.

The combination of the desire for revenge and greed—two of the most undesirable elements of human nature—can make a person believe that the $50 or $100 fee requested is a small price to pay to make up for lost profits.

Fat chance. The money will be as good as lost right after it is credited to the scammers’ bank account.

So if you happen to receive this Nigerian e-mail scam remake, regardless of whether you were a prior victim or not, remember the “delete” button is just a click away.

To be fooled a second time around by this latest e-mail fraud is simply unforgivable.

(For feedback, write to <rpalabrica@inquirer. com. ph>.)