Modern Slavery and 4-1-9 Fraud Schemes - Essay Example

Modern Slavery and 4-1-9 Fraud Schemes Q: Why has slavery become a major world problem and which nations participate in slave trading?  There cannot be two opinions that at present, slavery has become the major world menace. The major reason of this problem attributes to poverty. Human traffickers around the globe, export human beings especially those who are living below poverty lines in the developing countries to the Asian, African and the European markets. There are reasons that play important role in the growth of human trafficking to mentioned markets. Some of these are a) slaves are available at cheap rate which ranges from USD 80 to USD 5000 or even more based on the quality of slaves b) bonded labors c) Forced prostitution d) Forced Marriage / Child Marriage e) Forced beggary (Symons, 2012). The major victims of slave trade are poor and downtrodden people of the society. Most of them are from destabilized states at the hands of war, natural calamities, poverty and those who suffered at the hands of civil unrest / civil wars. Q: Why is the scam letters referred to as “4-1-9” schemes?  The scam is referred to as “4-1-9” due to application of given modalities by the scammers. In addition, the article that deals with fraud as per Nigerian law and criminal code is numbered as 419 due to which, the Nigerian frauds are termed as 4-1-9 schemes (Dillon, 2008): a) Sending letters / faxes or emails to the victims by the impersonators posing themselves as representatives of foreign government agencies. b) Fake agencies offered victims millions of dollars to deposit in their personal accounts by way of “over invoice contracts”. c) Encouraged victims to travel to the destined places to complete the transactions. d) Scammers asked victims to provide blank letterhead of their company that enumerates phone numbers, fax numbers and email addresses to correspond. e) Scammers send number of fake official documents which look as good as authenticated. By way of this technique, the company convinced victims to pay off the up front fees / charges in advance. f) The documents that relates to “419” schemes include: a) goods / services b) real estate business c) availability of crude oil at a dam cheap rate besides facilitation of conversion of currency. Q: What is the likely profile of a typical 4-1-9 victim?  The successful fraudulent cases so far unearthed relate to upfront fees / charges that were transferred to scammers. The modus operandi is that the applicant company / individual receives letter by mail from a Nigerian citizen claiming himself a top notch of the Nigerian Government. In the mentioned letter, the so called Nigerian high official informs the company that in order to have a contract, the individual or the company has to deposit upfront fees / charges that ranges from USD 10 to 60 million as pre condition of the Nigerian Government. The source of information about the victims is a) Trade bodies b) Commercial Attaches c) Trade directories etc. They focus on a number of traders / companies of the targeted countries and send them mails, faxes and emails impersonating themselves as the high ups of the concerned ministry of the Nigerian Government in general and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation in specific to strike a deal (“What is the ‘419’ Scam?”). The scammers invited victims to travel to the said country to materialize the transaction without going through the cumbersome procedure of seeking visa. By bribing the airport officials, they ensure entrance of victims in their country. Since the entrance in the mentioned country without having a valid visa is a serious offence, therefore the scammers use it against the victim to cow him down for the release of proposed funds. Apart from said tactic they do not mind in applying other harmful tactics if need arises. The game plan is so perfect that the victims are compelled to believe that the documents provided to them by the concerned ministry of the Nigerian Government are genuine ( e.g. letterhead, official stamps on the required documents, letter of credit, repayment schedule and other negotiable instruments) (“What is the ‘419’ Scam?”). After gaining confidence of the victim, the gangsters arrange an official meeting with the impersonators of concerned ministry to finalize the deal. During the course of business deal, some problems suddenly arise to sort out by greasing the palms of concerned official by the victim in the name of licensing fees, registration fees, other associated taxes and solicitor’s fees. When asked about the grown up menace in Nigeria, the officials of the Nigerian government attribute it to the unemployment on a mass scale, desire to become rich overnight in general and the greed of foreign investors in specific. This sort of fraud ate up millions of dollars of the victims and the victims in fear of victimization at the hands of scammers usually do not report the matter to the law enforcement agencies (“What is the ‘419’ Scam?”). Q: What can law enforcement managers do to prevent monetary loss due to this type of fraud scheme? Since the game plan of the scammers is very well fabricated to win the confidence of the victims, hence, the victims have no other option but to sit finger crossed on losing of millions of dollars or to seek help of the fraudsters. To heal up the wounds of the victims, the scammers pose themselves as representatives of the United Nations, Central Bank of Nigeria, FBI or the Scotland Yard to help them out in recovering the lost amount. For which they demand certain amount of money in connection with compensation fees which in fact does not exist. We have observed that in spite of the arrest of few scammers in the past, hardly small fraction of looted amount has been recovered that relates to the scam of “419” in view the loopholes of Nigerian legal system (Dillon, 2008). However, to cope with this situation, a number of remedial measures are taken up at individual and the governmental level. To achieve the desired goal, the Nigerian government in the year 2004, established the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to counter the move of economic and financial scammers relating to up front fee / other charges to seek contracts. Further the concerned ministry has introduced smart technology to trace out fraudulent emails to safe considerable number of potential victims. It is hoped that with the passage of time the Nigerian Government will counter the scam of “419” effectively in order to safe the image of their country and to win the confidence of the business community as well (Dillon, 2008). To prevent such kind of frauds, the law enforcement officials have to analyze the details involved in all scams to understand the procedures and strategies adopted by the scammers. They are also required to publish some public notices to inform people about such kinds of scams and their strategies. References Dillon, Eamon (2008). "Chapter 6: The 419ers". The Fraudsters — How Con Artists Steal Your Money. New York: Merlin Publishing. Symons, Sarah. (2012). About Slavery and Human Trafficking. Retrieved on 17 October 2012 from http://www.madebysurvivors.com/about-us/about-slavery “What is the ‘419’ Scam?”. Retrieved on 17 October 2012 from http://www.419eater.com/html/419faq.htm Read More