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MARKET COMMENT
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Ever since the invention of money, there have been people ready to swindle the gullible. Needless to say, the advent of the Internet has allowed plenty of e-scams to thrive. One of the most 'popular' is the '419' Nigerian letter fraud. Named after the relevant part of the Nigerian criminal code, it involves badly written e-mails promising the recipient a share in a supposed fortune.
Here's a good example of one such Nigerian e-mail: "I am the Chief Scribe of the Newly Constituted OMPADEC (Oil Minerals producing Area Development Commission). This commission was reconstituted in 1998 by the Federal Government of Nigeria as a result of consistent Environmental Neglect agitated by the Oil and Minerals Producing States... In view of the present political situation in our country, I have agreed with my colleagues to withdraw the sum of US$35 Million (Thirty-five Million U. S. Dollars) as an Over-Invoice of a contract we awarded for the Environmental Maintenance... I have agreed with my colleagues that after the business, you should keep 30% of the total fund... We are top civil servants who would not joke with our reputation." And here's another typical letter: "I am Mrs. Mariam Abacha, the widow of the late Gen. Sanni Abacha former Nigerian Military Head of State who died mysteriously as a result of Cardiac Arrest... Following the recent discovery of my husband's Bank Account by the Nigerians Government with Swiss Bank in which the huge sum of US$700 Million and Dutch 450 Million was logged... I therefore decided to contact you in confidence that I was above to move out the sum of US$51.5 Million Dollars, which was secret and is sealed in two Metal Boxes for security reasons...
I personally therefore appeal to you seriously and religiously for your urgent assistant to move this money into your country where I believe it will be safe... Conclusively, we have agreed to offer you 30% of the total sum..." The e-mails then go on to ask you to supply your name, address and bank details. Trick one, therefore, will be for your Nigerian contact to use this information to try and empty out your bank account. In addition, the e-mails also state that part of the fortune will have to pay for various administrative issues. It's these costs that form trick two. Unfortunately, the likes of Mariam Abacha will always have 'difficulty' funding the necessary 'legal fees', 'transfer taxes', 'government bribes' and so on. So anybody wanting their 'millions' will have to pay their share of the administration upfront. Requests for the money soon follow, the demands for which increase until the recipients finally realise that there is no fortune and that they've been duped. One US victim reportedly paid the 'National Nigerian Petroleum Corporation' $750,000 before the fraud finally dawned on him. The lesson to be learnt from the Nigerian letters? As with everything else in the investment world, don't let greed and the desire for a quick buck overrule common sense. If it sounds to good to be true, it usually is.