On advance fee fraud

The Nigerian Ambassador to Indonesia Saidu Mohammed at a press conference held on July 22 in Jakarta addressed the business community and the media on efforts being made by the Nigerian government to stamp out the Advance Fee Fraud, a crime which has eroded investors' confidence in Nigeria.

The Ambassador said the initiators usually present attractive business proposals to potential victims under any of the following headings: Transfer of funds from over invoiced or failed contracts; award of contract and supplies; contract for sale of crude oil below market price; inheritance to charitable organization or religious body; request for a foreign bank account to lodge money and a reward of a certain percentage.

After a favorable response to the proposal, the initiator demands an advance payment of a tax, bribe, processing fees under the pretext that the payment is required to actualize the propertied business deals.

Advance Feed Fraud, a transnational crime and by-product of Information Technology (IT) has resulted in the loss of huge sums of money by the government of Nigeria, its agencies, the general public and the international community.

The initiator in a phone conversation or facsimile claims to be a high-ranking official of the federal government of Nigeria with access to vital documents needed for the purported business deals. The unsuspecting victim who finds such proposals and presentations convincing and irresistible makes contract and commences the deal. The initiator sends fake documents to the victim intimating him with rigorous procedures and protocol required.

The victim is advised to make a certain payment to hasten the processing; the gullible victims out of greed meet the demands of the initiator without confirming the genuineness of the transaction with the embassy or the chamber of commerce.

Several demands are made over a period of time and the transaction is never sealed. When the anxious and expectant victim realizes that he or she has remitted huge sums of money an alarm is raised and the mission is contacted. The mission carries out an investigation and the victim is now told that he/she has been swindled.

To redeem the image of the country, the Nigerian government introduced the following measures, promulgation of Advance Fee Fraud Decree No. 12 of 1996, creation of special courts, tribunals to handle these and other financial crimes; interception of correspondence; international awareness campaign, promulgation of money laundering decree in 1995; the confiscation agreement between Nigeria and the United Kingdom to settle the proceeds of crime involving her citizens.

S.A.O. EGURUBE Nigerian Embassy Jakarta