Advance-fee fraud scams rise dramatically in 2009

A Dutch private investigation company calls the Nigerian 419 scam the most successful one in the world

People around the world continue to be duped by advance-fee frauds, with one Dutch private investigation company estimating the highest ever annual losses occurred in 2009.

Victims lost at least $US9.3 billion last year, up from $US6.3 billion in 2008, said Frank Engelsman of Ultrascan, a Dutch company that investigates advance-fee frauds (AFFs) and other types of crime. Ultrascan will release a complete report on Friday on its Web site.

AFFs are also known as 419 scams, named after a Nigerian criminal code statute. Scams originating in Nigeria were so pervasive that the country's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission stepped up law enforcement efforts in recent years to crack down on scammers.

The scams take many forms but essentially involve tricking a victim into sending money with the false promise of some greater reward. While most people identify and ignore the scams, a fraction of people are hooked and can end up losing big, lured into believing that the more money they send, the more they will eventually receive. Ultrascan calls AFF schemes the world's most successful scams.

Ultrascan collects its figures based on cases it has analyzed. In 2009, Ultrascan reviewed 8,503 AFF complaints coming from 152 countries. Engelsman called 2009 "the worst year yet."

The reason is that organized AFF gangs are expanding their operations to not only target people in Western Europe and the U.S. but also in countries such as India, China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, Engelsman said.

The majority of perpetrators are still Nigerian, who find local partners to help them send fraudulent e-mail and other tasks, Engelsman said. Organized AFF gangs are also aligning with other gangs in order to launder money, cash fake checks and in some cases move into areas such as drug smuggling, he said.

The toll on victims is heavy. Engelsman said many of the victims that Ultrascan had contact with had given so much money to the scammers that their home was either repossessed or in danger of being taken by a bank.

"We have found evidence of scammers being proud by the number of victims that lost their homes because of the skill of the scammer responsible," Ultrascan's report said.

The top three countries for AFF losses in 2009 were the U.S. at $US2.1 billion, U.K. at $US1.2 billion and China at $US936 million. Engelsman cautioned that the figures are merely based on Ultrascan's limited investigations, as the true figures are likely many times higher.

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Comments

Anonymous

1

Hoax

This has the strong scent of a hoax, or at least nothing more than a (for now successful) attempt to get media coverage by Utrascan.

If you read the report you'll see that there is virtually no information on the data collection and methodology. Even so, exact figures are presented as regards 'resident scammers'. Brilliant isn't it? Seriously, at best the report is a collection of open source information without any references to where this information came from and how reliable it is.

And what about all the investigations that were conducted by Ultrascan and the information from those?

Well, Ultrascan is in fact nothing more than a one man show by Frank Engelsman. It is not a registered company and certainly does not have the 3200 staff in 69 countries as claimed, nor does it exist since 1996. It also does not have a license to operate as a private investigation company (which is required in the Netherlands).

Finally it's not the first time that Engelsman was able to get media attention with highly disputable information. Remember the Nokia 1100 hoax last year?

Anonymous

2

Not a hoax

My partner began receiving emails from a "Sonia Ukpa" claiming her deceased father had left the sum of $2.7 million in an account and that she needs help to access it. I became suspicious and so looked up her name and found a similar story known to be a 419 scam from Nigeria under the name of "Rose Ukpa". Same story line saying her father had been killed in the war, she had death certificate and other documents which she would send. That she now lived in a refugee camp at Dakar Senegal and the pastor is like a father to her. The deceased father's name is "Dr. James Ukpa". In the 3 emails my partner was not formally addressed it was always "My dearest, etc". I feel sorry for the poor fools who get tricked by these criminals.

Alex

3

The so-called 'advanced fee' or '419' frauds are, unfortunately, not a hoax. But then again, you have to be pretty naive to fall for that.

However, the bureau Ultrascan and their research is a hoax. They just collect some data from open sources and present it as own research.
Even worse, the bureau and its owner Frank Engelsman are apparently defrauding the people who came to them for help after they were scammed. I checked and the first poster is correct, the bureau has no registration and license as required under Dutch law. Beware!

claude mussa

4

there attacking even facebook

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