CHENNAI: Have you heard of ‘Nigerian 419 scam’? This is a new way to cheat public by using advanced IT technology and is rampant nowadays.
Such criminals are called Nigerian scammers and 419 refers to Article 419 of Nigeria Criminal Code, meaning fraud. They send mass letters, messages and e-mails to defraud greedy recipients, who fall prey to their tricks. The offence is also called advance-fee fraud, in which the victim gives money to a stranger after being promised a much larger amount.
No money will be given to the victims and they would be further victimised for more payments. The fraudsters would claim a second or third advance to return the promised money. The modern version of the scam is executed via e-mail correspondence and the criminals will also make up a plausible story to explain as to why a fee is needed in advance.
The e-mail will claim that a few hundred dollars are needed as ‘application fee’ to process the large amount that is won. Another common claim is that the wire transfer of huge amounts is usually possible after advanced payment of fee.
Victims start losing money and by the time they realise the fraud, they might have lost their property, too. According to a report, losses from individual scams range between $200 and $12 million. People must be vigilant in not falling prey to such criminals and they should not send money or give credit card, online account details or copies of personal documents to anyone.
These are some observations that were issued by Justice S Vaidyanathan, while refusing advance bail to two such fraudsters, last week.