Hard Times, Even for Con Artists

These economic times have been hard on everyone. Even scammers. A young con artist in Nigeria named Banjo says that everyone is working harder because the Americans are not doing very well. He says that Americans no longer have any money, but the scammers need it anyway.

According to the U.S. authorities Americans lose hundreds of millions of dollars a year to cybercrimes. One such scheme known as the Nigerian 419 fraud, named for the criminal code in Nigeria that addresses this type of fraud, has seen offers from Nigerians in and outside their homeland mushroom this year. Despite Nigerian officials disputing their country’s prominence in online fraud songs such as “Yahoozee” glorifying the scammers have made 419 a part of Nigerian popular culture.

Another scammer puts part of the blame on the maga, a slang term for victim. In a desperate attempt to boost profits, the scammers themselves are falling prey by reportedly traveling six or more hours to the forest to shell out $300 to a magician claiming his magic powder will boost scamming power. In this insidious greedy quest the scammers are buying into scams themselves.

Almost every scam feeds off of hope. Hope that a long lost relative left you millions in jewels, the hope of true love, or the investment in a promising business. Each of these scams will eventually require money and none of the promises will ever come to fruition. In a world with job loss and layoffs becoming all too common the work-at-home scam has become one of Banjo’s most lucrative endeavors. He places ads for “pick-up agents” across the internet and in local newspapers convincing people to cash bogus checks and then wire the money after taking their commission. When the check bounces they are left with the bill. This scam has made Benji $60,000 in a month, when times were good. Now he’s lucky to make $25,000

The Nigerian authorities claim they are cracking down on 419 perpetrators with The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission reporting the cases made up 45 percent of its prosecutions from the year of 2003 to 2006. They are using tactics such as cybercafé raids and utilizing software to block e-mail scams. Despite cautioning from the U.S. embassy, banks and other sites people still fall victim to these scams. Frank Engelsman, an Ultrascan researcher, has said that it will require better cross-border cooperation among law enforcement in order to control these e-mail scams.

Banjo himself has felt such compassion for his own victims that he returned some of their money. While posing as a woman named Monica, Banjo promised love to a lonely truck driver named Jimmy. When Monica needed money Jimmy lovingly obliged. He broke it off after sending a total of $25,000 including money for three flights, all which Monica missed. Still he would plead with Monica to “Just come home. Just come home, baby,” Banjo remembers. Banjo returned $1,000 and told Jimmy it was all a scam.

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