Sorry to hit the list with these, but I figure if the Gov takes these
seriously we should too.
Phil
-----Original Message-----
From: MSFC Activity Notice
Sent: Monday, March 12, 2001 10:54 AM
To: MSFC Activity Notice
Subject: Nigerian Scam Letters
The "Nigerian Scam"
Strategic intelligence has identified that West African organized crime
groups have for many years conducted a type of fraud against individuals and
companies commonly known as "advance fee". It is also known as the 4-1-9
fraud after the penal code in Nigeria that makes it illegal. These groups
also carry out highly organized housing, social security and other grants
frauds. The profits from these crimes are often used to finance drug
trafficking, where the same middlemen transport drugs from source to
consumer countries.
'419' letters are distributed by postal mail, by facsimile (fax), and
primarily in recent months through e-mail channels. In a typical '419'
(advance fee fraud) letter, the author purports to be a senior government or
central bank official who has managed to over-inflate a contract, generating
a personal profit. In return for help in smuggling the money out of the
country, the recipient is offered a percentage, usually between 10% and 30%.
At first no money may be requested but once a victim has been drawn in,
requests are made for funds to pay legal and administrative fees. Victims
have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in some cases.
These e-mail letters have been received in increasing numbers at MSFC in
recent months. If you receive a '419' letter at MSFC either in hard-copy or
electronic form, DO NOT REPLY TO THE LETTER, but retain it and contact the
MSFC Information Technology Security Coordinator (ITSC) Steve R. Jones at
telephone 544-4373. You may be asked to forward the letter to the ITSC for
inclusion in Center submittals to Federal officials.
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