If there’s a sucker born every minute, some of them must be living on farms.
That appears to be the thinking of Nigerian letter scam authors, who are custom writing some of their
e-mail letters to appeal specifically to people in agriculture.
“I know that my letter may come to you as a surprise,” reads an e-mail message signed with the name Philomina Chichi, which was recently received by The Western Producer.
It explains a scheme by which Chichi, who claims to be writing from the African country of Ivory Coast, plans to make lots of money through international trading of cattle antibiotics, money that will be shared with a “foreign contact” who helps the sales go through.
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“Sir, if you can handle this project, please contact me on my e-mail address immediately for more details on how to go about it and the negotiation on what is to be my commission,” concludes the letter.
Dave Scott of the RCMP’s commercial crime section hasn’t seen this particular letter before. But he’s seen a lot like it.
“This is the hook,” said Scott, based in Winnipeg.
“There are all sorts of modifications on a theme, but this is consistent with what I’ve seen.”
What is also consistent is that these letters are always fraudulent.
“Legitimate people don’t conduct business this way,” said Scott.
Ever since the 1970s na•ve people have been victimized by what are called Nigerian scam letters. These are letters, which at first nearly all came from Nigeria, that attempt to convince people to send money to the writer, or to open their bank accounts to the writer, in order to receive a huge amount of money.
The writers often claim to be deposed dictators, vice presidents of African banks, or relatives of wealthy people. Most letters claim the writer needs to get money out of their country, but can only do so if they send the money through a foreign person.
The writers often promise to give a percentage of the money transferred out of their country to anyone who is able to help them. Since some of the letters claim to want to transfer tens of millions of dollars, a person helping out would receive a mountain of money.
But before the money is transferred, the person helping out is generally asked to send some money to pay for insurance or paperwork.
Sometimes this is followed by demands to forward more money before the transaction can go through. In the end, the victims send their money, but the African money never arrives.
Scott said it’s impossible to know how many people fall for these letter scams, because many victims are too embarrassed to let police know they have been suckered.
“You’re capitalizing on people’s hopes, or greed, depending on how you see it,” said Scott.
Recently a victim came to him after getting involved with one scheme. He had replied to a letter about transferring money out of an African country through his bank account. He received a cheque from the letter writer as a down payment on the rest of the money.
This made him feel better about agreeing to what he was asked to do, which was to open his bank account to them and to transfer some money to them for “insurance and fees.”
That was the last he saw of his money. And the African cheque bounced when he tried to cash it.
The Nigerian letters used to be aimed at a broad base of people. But recently they are making more customized pitches, such as the cattle antibiotics message.
Scott said he has seen customized scam letters designed for people in telecommunications and health care.
“There has to be an air of legitimacy to it,” said Scott, adding that anyone who thinks a bit about the proposal can see through it.
“Everything’s urgent; everything’s secret,” said Scott.”Let’s move before you have the chance to think.”
Scott said there isn’t much police can do for someone who has been fleeced by one of these scams.
“There isn’t a mountie in these foreign countries who can further an investigation.”
Scott said people who receive letter scams should not reply. Replying to an e-mail can get a person put on a “sucker list,” which means scammers know they are reaching someone.
