[Dixielandjazz] Nigerian Scam Arrests

[dhs at ev1.net]

Dear Listers:

Recently, there was a DJML thread about the notorious Nigerian Scam.  You
might be interested to learn that the Dutch authorities are trying to do
something about it.

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Dutch Police Arrest 52 in E-Mail Scam

Dutch police have arrested 52 people suspected of defrauding gullible
Internet users in one of the largest busts of the infamous "Nigerian e-mail"
scam.

Also known as an "advance fee" or "419" scheme, the scammers sent spam
e-mails asking for help in transferring a large sum of money out of a
politically or economically troubled country, in exchange for a generous
percentage.

Robert Meulenbroek, spokesman for the Amsterdam prosecutor's office, said
the ring broken this week had reaped millions of euros (dollars). Recent
victims included people from the United States, Japan, England, Russia,
Sweden and Switzerland.

A task force of 80 officers raided 23 apartments, seizing computers, fake
passports and euro50,000 ($62,000) in cash. One suspect was injured
attempting to escape by leaping from a third-floor apartment, he said.  The
detainees were not identified under Dutch privacy rules, but most were
believed to be Nigerian, police said.

In a variation on one of the world's oldest scams, the Nigerian e-mail con
presents himself as a well-connected person who needs access to a Western
bank account to transfer a large sum of money that cannot be spent in his
own country.

He promises a cut of the money in exchange for a smaller upfront cost before
the larger sum can be transferred but it never is.  The scam has existed for
years in various forms, but in the 1990s it moved online, where it is
cheaper to organize and harder to trace.

Arrests have been made in several countries in recent years, including
Australia, Canada, and the United States.
The Amsterdam scammers referred their potential victims to Web sites of
fictitious companies with names like Global Securities and Financial Company
Limited, or Fortune Trust Finance & Securities.   Often, they listed a fake
address, though most had a working mobile phone number.

The suspects worked from their homes and sent more than 1 million e-mails,
at times clogging the servers of their Internet provider, Dutch-based cable
company UPC. Police enlisted UPC's help to trace them, Meulenbroek said.

Six people, three from Nigeria and three from Benin, were convicted in a
similar case in Amsterdam in May, receiving sentences of up to 4 1/2 years.
They had defrauded victims for several million dollars (euros), including a
Swiss professor who lost US$482,000 after being promised 25 percent of a
US$36 million sum.

Nigeria has recently stepped up its efforts to eradicate the scam, which
taints its image abroad. The Central Bank of Nigeria denies any connection
to the scammers, and Nigerian agencies have been placing warning
advertisements in international newspapers for years.

The scam is sometimes called a "419" fraud due to the Nigerian criminal code
outlawing it.  At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland earlier
this month, Nigeria's finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, reissued a
statement promising to crack down on the scammers.

MUSICAL CONTENT: It's a Sin To Tell A Lie

Regards,
Dave Stoddard
Round Rock, TX