After recently receiving a slew of what are known as ‘Nigerian 419 Scam’ emails in my inbox recently, I asked myself, ‘Who are these people who do this? And who are the people who respond to these fraudulent emails?”  Poking around the ‘net, I found an in-depth Washington Post article, by  Karin Brulliard which answered my questions, prompting a commentary here.

Ms. Brulliard interviewed a Nigerian man named Banjo for the article.  Banjo explains how much more difficult it has been during tough economic times to bilk naïve Americans of their monies.  “We are working harder. The financial crisis is not making it easy for them over there,” said Banjo, 24, speaking about Americans, whose trust he has won and whose money he has fleeced, via his Dell laptop. “They don’t have money. And the money they don’t have, we want.”

Banjo is a polite young man in a button-down shirt, and he is the sort of guy on the other end of that block-lettered missive requesting your “URGENT ASSISTANCE” in transferring millions of dollars. He is the sort who made Nigeria infamous for cyberscams, which experts say are increasing in these tough times.

U.S. authorities say Americans — the easiest prey, according to Nigerian scammers — lose hundreds of millions of dollars a year to cybercrimes, including a scheme known as the Nigerian 419 fraud, named for a section of the Nigerian criminal code. Now financially squeezed, Americans succumb even more easily to offers of riches, experts say.”

The article goes on to explain how the scams began in the 1980′s “…from news reports about corrupt politicians funneling oil proceeds to foreign bank accounts.”  Sometimes the scams take advantage of lonely hearts while others promise viable work-from-home riches for simply depositing funds from overseas into personal bank accounts.  The recipient then wires the money into other overseas accounts.  The original, fraudulent checks never clear so the recipient is responsible for the final cash outlay.

Brulliard describes that other scams take advantage of naïve respondents who are typically lonely Americans who believe that if they send upfront fees for plane fare to fake women they will come to America to meet their suitors.  Of course, the “ladies” with whom the American has been corresponding is someone like Banjo on the other end of the email thread.  “She” has missed her plane 3 times, prompting the American to send more money.

Further research shows that the The Nigerian scam has infiltrated real estate using free sites such as Craigslist.  Copying current and legitimate ‘for sale by owner’ ads and photos, scammers create new ads to advertise low purchase prices enticing investors to send in down payments for properties sight unseen.  When buyers show up at the properties to take possession, they find that the transaction is not legitimate.

Of course it all boils down to the naïve individual who feels they can purchase real estate at bargain basement prices. In this time of falling real estate values with buyers not wishing to hire a real estate professional (and pay for commissions), scammers are finding it much easier to dupe vulnerable buyers. 

Janine Gregor
Real Estate Virtual Assistant
www.YourVirtualWizard.com

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