Waging the War against Advanced fee fraud in Nigeria
By Stephen Isayinka
Since its inception, Nigeria has borne a disproportionate amount of responsibility for the global spread of “advance fee fraud” (419). The illegal solicitation of financial assets or payments in advance, often known as “advance fee fraud” or “419,” is also known as “advance fee fraud.” It is inaccurate to identify Nigeria as the home of modern fraud, as its origins precede the modern age. The significant participation of Nigerians in advance fee fraud schemes, as indicated by accessible statistics, has led to the erroneous idea that this sort of fraud originated in Nigeria. Researchers have traced the origins of the present wave of advance fee fraud in Nigeria to the late 1970s, which is noteworthy. Therefore, experts such as Okolo Ben Simon claim that the present version of the crime can be traced back to the late 1970s and early 1980s in Nigeria, when it emerged as a regionally based phenomena. During the oil boom of the 1960s and 1970s, in addition to bringing in much-needed petrodollars, the country’s elite were able to take advantage of a great opportunity to enrich themselves. It is essential to remember that advance-fee scams are a form of fraud and one of the most common confidence tactics. The victim is tricked into paying a modest sum of money up front, in exchange for which the con artist promises to give them a high percentage of a much greater sum. The fraudster either generates a new fee or vanishes once the victim pays the initial price. The FBI defines an advance fee scheme as one in which a victim pays money in exchange for the promise of future financial gain (such as a loan, contract, investment, or gift), but receives nothing of value in return. This form of fraud includes the Nigerian Prince Scam, commonly known as a 419 scam. The section “419” of the Nigerian Criminal Code describes fraud-related offences and their corresponding penalties. The fraud has extended from faxes and traditional mail to electronic communications such as emails. Other variations include the Spanish Prisoner Fraud and the “black money” scam.
Although Nigeria is commonly cited as the alleged origin of these frauds, the great majority originate from other nations. High rates of advance-fee fraud are also prevalent in the Ivory Coast, Togo, South Africa, Netherlands, Spain, Poland, and Jamaica. Due to the extensive usage of e-mail and email harvesting software, it is significantly less expensive to send fraudulent letters via the Internet than via ordinary mail. Although Nigeria is commonly cited, these cons are not restricted to that country. In 2007, the director of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission stated that the majority of fraudulent emails originated in Africa or Eastern Europe. Within the EU, both the Netherlands and Spain have a high rate of advance-fee fraud. According to Microsoft analyst Cormac Herley, Nigeria is the epicentre of email scams. In Nigeria, fraud is described as “obtaining property via false pretences; cheating, as well as other connected difficulties” (Chapter 38, Article 419 of the Criminal Code). Typically, the perpetrator of this fraud starts contact with the victim by email, instant messaging, or social media using a bogus email address or social media account. The con artist then proposes a proposition that, if accepted, promises the victim a big return. Governments, internet businesses, and individuals have fought aggressively against advance-fee fraud and 419 schemes in recent years. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was founded by the Nigerian government in 2004 to prosecute economic and financial crimes such as advance-fee fraud. Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) revealed in 2009 that it has implemented Microsoft’s cutting-edge technology to detect and prevent fake emails. A further essential idea is “scam baiting.” Scam baiting is the act of impersonating a possible victim of a scam in order to waste the scammer’s time and force them to spend less time on actual victims. Another organisation founded by concerned citizens, Artists Against 419 maintains a public catalogue of scam websites. They work closely with APWG to transmit information to financial institutions and security companies. The ability of the Nigerian government to reduce cases of advance fee fraud is contingent on the effectiveness with which its law enforcement and regulatory agencies carry out their duties.
The Advance Fee Fraud Act mandates that all users and customers of electronic communications services be registered by law enforcement and regulatory agencies. The Nigerian Communications Commission’s (NCC) recent mandate to implement the registration of GSM subscribers is praiseworthy; nonetheless, most GSM service providers and subscribers have not yet effectively complied with this directive. Regulating the selling of GSM SIM cards is one strategy to increase GSM subscriber registration. In order to track consumer identities, the government could regulate that GSM SIM cards be sold exclusively at a service provider’s official retail sites. With this new regulation in force, subscribers will no longer be able to purchase SIM cards from random bystanders. Before activating SIM cards obtained from unauthorised shops or random street vendors on a GSM network, the user should be required to prove his or her identification. Distributors of electronic communication services are required to establish internal fraud complaint units. Given that the majority of the revenues from advance fee fraud are now being laundered into the country via money transfer services, Nigeria must appropriately control money transfer services. Prior to offering clients with any sort of international money transfer service, it is vital that banks perform due diligence procedures. After confirming a customer’s identification, a bank may request proof of the transaction’s funding source. A major reason why advance fee fraud funds have been laundered so effectively through money transfer services is the corruption of bank employees. To prevent advance fee fraud in Nigeria, Nigerian law enforcement agencies, international law enforcement organisations (such as Interpol), and other national law enforcement agencies from different nations must collaborate closely. This type of cooperative multilateral partnership will increase the flow of information regarding advance fee fraud, enabling for more complete investigations and prosecutions of international cases. To efficiently obtain or provide extra-jurisdictional legal assistance in cases involving transnational advance fee fraud, Nigeria should negotiate mutual legal assistance accords with all nations. As a result, the Nigerian Advance Fee Fraud Act is the most comprehensive legal instrument for combating advance fee fraud in Nigeria. In spite of the existence of the law, there has been an increase in advance fee fraud in Nigeria. This makes it quite evident that relying exclusively on legal measures to combat advance fee fraud in Nigeria would not be sufficient.
Finally, a comprehensive strategy is required to permanently implement the recommendations made in this piece. Finally, because the transnational scope of advance fee fraud has been greatly magnified by the proliferation of communications technologies and the emergence of the global information society, a greater degree of global cooperation is required to combat the crime. Countries with more advanced technology should help Nigeria and other developing nations build their capacity to combat advance fee fraud. It is in the best interest of the worldwide information society that this be done.
