The new president must tackle the country’s email fraudsters, says christopher thompson |
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Have you received an email from a barrister called Aloy Koffi? If so, it appears you're in luck.
Koffi is the custodian of a large fortune whose owner - your namesake - recently died in a plane crash on flight 141-UTA in West Africa. Interested to hear more? Then just email over your account details and sort code. For a small 'release fee' - payable in advance - the $12.5m booty will be yours. Easy, really - except that it doesn't exist.
'Koffi' is a con-artist based in Nigeria where scams like this - commonly known as '419s' after the section of the Nigerian penal code covering fraud - are a billion-dollar industry.
The fraudsters aim to lure you into forking out endless waiver fees to secure whatever fortune they're promising. You may also be asked to come up with, say, $2,000 to bribe a customs agent or $15,000 for a special chemical solvent to disguise the cash.
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| ‘419s’ have become the internet’s most common form of junk mail after herbal Viagra ads |
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Just yesterday, a colleague in London received a tempting email from a 'Dr Mrs Mariam Abacha, widow of the late Nigerian head of state, General Sanni Abacha', in which she claims to have been left $50m. She wants help transferring the money out of Nigeria - and, in return, you will be paid a 30 per cent commission.
At this first stage, there is no demand for your bank account details, just a request for your mobile phone number. Later, when it seems the millions are within your grasp, 'Mariam Abacha' will ask you to pay various transfer fees. You can be sure of it: the fake bequest is another Nigerian classic.
Before the internet, similar scams were conducted by post. Thanks to email, and cybercafes sprouting in Nigeria, trade is booming. According to the anti-spam software vendor Brightmail, 419s have become the internet's most common form of junk mail after herbal Viagra ads.
The scams are not all run from Nigeria. In Britain, where there's a population of one million Nigerian immigrants, more than 
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