Australia: Queensland takes action

[De Master Yoda]

October 8, 2007 - 12:06PM

Australians are losing $2.5 million a month to so-called Nigerian scams, a conference has been told.

Queensland's Police Minister Judy Spence told Australia's first national symposium on Nigerian fraud in Brisbane today she was amazed that people continued to be conned by the long-running scam.

"I guess the old adage that a fool is easily parted with his money is still true in this day and age," Ms Spence said.

"It's estimated that Australians lose $2.5 million every month to Nigeria in this scam."

The scams, which have been circulating since the 1980s, typically involve a letter or email from a person overseas claiming to need help transferring a large sum of money.

They typically offer to provide a significant portion of that money in exchange for bank account details.

Ms Spence said a Queensland police operation set up to investigate the impact of Nigerian fraud in the state had identified 135 victims who had been defrauded of a combined total of $18.2 million.

That was despite repeated warnings on the scam from authorities, and information on the scams being readily available on the internet.

Today's symposium involved stakeholders from Australia, North America, Asia and Africa and is aimed at addressing the spread of the scam.

AAP brisbane times.com.au

[De Master Yoda]

Many of Nigeria's infamous email scammers are young, highly-educated men who are able to scam millions of dollars working alone on a laptop.

A world-first symposium on the West African fraud phenomenon was today told that while the financial and emotional cost of so-called Nigerian money scams was well documented, they were also doing untold damage to the scammers' country.

Police Minsiter Judy Spence said at least $2.5 million every month was handed over to criminals promising massive fortunes, simple cash transfers or lost inheritances in exchange for small "transaction", "bank" or "legal" fees.

Ms Spence said a special police taskforce had found 135 Queenslanders had been collectively scammed out of more than $18.2 million.

When victims wake up to the reality of their situation it is often too late, with divorce, depression and attempted suicide frequent side effects of financial ruin.

Queensland Police even concede their biggest obstacle is convincing unwitting victims their promised windfall will never materialise.

What is not so widely known, however, is that Nigeria itself has the most to lose from this insidious white-collar crime.

In Brisbane today for the symposium, Olaolu Adegbite told brisbanetimes.com.au of the immense cost to his country's economy and reputation.

"What we are losing from this scam is incalculable. It's not a matter of cash, it's a matter of image," Mr Adegbite said.

"We are losing direct foreign investment as a result of this, because of the perception that maybe if you do business in Nigeria you may lose the money.

"Anywhere a Nigerian goes he is being profiled as a fraudulent person, as a scammer."

Mr Adegbite works in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, which was set up in 2003 to tackle the problem.

In its four years of operation, the agency has recorded more than 120 convictions but Mr Adegbite said international co-operation was critical.

"We are trying to make sure we call attention to this crime because the amount of money involved is huge and nobody can comfortably say they can put a tab on the figure we're talking about," he said.

The EFCC's investigations had found most scammers were individuals working alone on a laptop.

"It's basically a crime of greed," he said.

"A network (of people) is not really necessary, you can use a small laptop to take a million dollars."

Scammers were most often young, highly educated men who preyed on an overseas perception that Nigeria was a war-torn, desperate "banana republic".

However, he also said many locals had also fallen for the scams.

"For every three complaints we receive, two are actually from Nigerians."

"It does not mean that overseas cases are not many. We know that some may be ashamed and it's been unreported from outside the country but we have a lot of victims of advance fee fraud locally."

The agency's work has resulted in many potential offenders heading overseas.

"As a result of our direct enforcement work a lot of the scammers are not in Nigeria," Mr Adegbite said.

"They are operating now from the West African coast, from Europe and South Africa."

[De Master Yoda]

Queensland Police have launched a world-first initiative aimed at reducing a crime now responsible for Queenslanders losing millions of dollars each year.

Police Minister Judy Spence said, “Advance Fee Fraud, which involves offenders contacting victims over the internet (generally from Ghana or Nigeria) and requesting the payment of fees in return for a promised large financial return, has become a major crime in Queensland.

“Police estimate that they currently field about 23 enquiries a month regarding Advance Fee Fraud,” Ms Spence said.

“Despite the widespread publicity of the fraudulent nature of these scams, research conducted by the Queensland Police Service has revealed Queenslanders are sending around $600,000 per month to countries like Nigeria and West Africa.

“These are victims falling hook, line and sinker to people promising them fast or easy money over the internet.”

Since 2005, the number of victims losing large sums of money to these scams has drastically increased.

In 2005, Queensland Police selected a random sample of 26 people who sent money overseas to Nigeria and questioned them as to why they were sending that money. It became clear that 25 of the 26 were victims of fraud. Those 25 victims alone had combined losses that exceeded $7m.

In 2007 Queensland Police expanded the sample pool to 139 people. Police established that135 people were victims of a scam. This time the total lost exceeded $18m.

The Queensland Police Service’s Fraud and Corporate Crime Group has been at the forefront of reducing and preventing this crime type, hosting a National Nigerian Fraud Symposium in 2007 and a National Advance Fee Fraud Symposium in 2008. Queensland Police are working closely with Nigerian and Ghanaian agencies on operations focused on apprehending offenders residing in Nigeria and Ghana. In 2007 Queensland Police launched a national project with Western Union to provide warnings against people sending money to overseas fraudsters.

The group is also regularly working to educate the community on preventative strategies aimed at reducing the number of victims who fall prey to these scams.

Detective Superintendent Brian Hay of the Queensland Police Service’s Fraud and Corporate Crime Group said. “This crime can have devastating consequences. Victims are sending anything from a few thousand to hundreds of thousands of dollars overseas in these scams. Families are going bankrupt, losing their home – everything,”

While every effort is being made to prevent this crime from occurring, people are still becoming victims. As a response the group has now established an Advance Fee Fraud online reporting system, aimed at assisting victims and streamlining the process for police.

The first of its kind in the world, the web-based system allows victims to report crimes of this nature directly online. This “portal” then directs the matter directly to the country where the offender is suspected of residing, such as Nigeria and Ghana.

Receiving full support from the Nigerian High Commission (who are providing a link on their website), the system is available to all Australian residents.

“Quite often we find that victims become extremely embarrassed when they realise they have become a victim. We are hoping this system will alleviate some of the embarrassment to the victims by providing a non-confrontational method of reporting in a user-friendly environment,” Detective Superintendent Hay said.

“The system will also ensure consistent information is collected and referred to the appropriate law enforcement agency. A system like this is also valuable in gathering statistics which we use to ensure our enforcement and education strategies are appropriate,” he said.

The Advance Fee Fraud online reporting system can be found on the police website

www.police.qld.gov.au/programs/crimePrevention/eCrime/scams/Nigerian_Scams.htm
Further information including methods of prevention, types of scams and helpful strategies are also available from this site.


http://www.australia.to/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4110:world-first-system-aimed-at-reducing-million-dollar-crime-&catid=72:australian-news&Itemid=29