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This
Letter Scam is the Third Largest Industry in Nigeria:
It's hard to believe that a crude scam like this would bring in five
billion dollars over the past twelve years, but that's the estimate
provided by the 419 Coalition, a group that actively fights this
scam.
The Unsolicited Letter:
If you're in business in
North America or Western Europe you have likely received a Nigerian
Fraud Letter--or you will in
the near future. The volume of these letters just moving
through the United States mail is staggering. In fact, one
might think the cost of the postage alone would eliminate any
possibility for a return on investment for the scammers. The
answer here is likely counterfeit
stamps. Most of the N50
stamps we have seen on Nigerian
Fraud Letter envelopes do not
have quality perforated edges and they vary significantly in color
and quality. In fact, there is a good possibility many of them
are mailed from U. S. locations, since we've only seen a few with
any postmark at all. (Recently the U.S. Postal Service
Inspectors have been quite active in reducing this problem.)
The letters are usually contained in brown #10 envelopes and open at
the end--rather than at a traditionally placed flap. A small
percentage are standard white envelopes, but we have yet to see one
with a return address. Additionally, all envelopes we've seen
are hand addressed--usually to: "The
Managing Director," "The President CEO," or
simply "CEO."
Inside the Envelope:
The first thing you will
probably notice about the letters is the full justification of the
text. When computers and word processors were new in the market, one
of the common mistakes new users made was to justify all their
correspondence, particularly form letters. They quickly
learned, however, that rather than making their letters look
professional, justification made them look like impersonal form
letters or "personal" sweepstakes notes from Ed
McMahon. The Nigerians apparently have not yet learned this
basic and all Nigerian Fraud Letters I have seen use justified
text. The next thing you might notice is that the letter may
well be a hand signed photocopy, rather than an original.
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