Date Published: 03/31/10

THANK YOU, EFCC…THIS REPORT IS SOOTHING By Anthony Ojelimafe

There is a cheering news in the Nigeria mass media recently when it was reported that Nigerian’s image got a boost following the fleeing of internet scammers (419) from the country and relocating to neighbouring countries in the West Africa region; this report credited to PC World, an international news website about technology, based in the United State (U.S) and United Kingdom (UK), further gave credit to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for this feat.

As a patriotic Nigerian, there is no doubt that the news was soul lifting considering the unimaginable damage the activities of these fraudsters have done to the psyche of Nigeria as a nation. These fraudsters have no doubt inflicted incalculable damage to Nigerian businesses and for placing the entire country under suspicion.

The news went further to quote a 2009 report from the Internet Crime Complaint Center, IC3, as saying that though internet scam are common in Africa, African countries made up only 10 percent of the reported number of victims complaints, with the US and UK comprising more than 75 percent of the total. Greed, however, remains the major bait that makes victims fall prey to scammers easily.

This cheering news did not, however, come as a shocker; being that available records have shown that the EFCC has shut down no fewer than 800 scam websites and arrested quite a large number of members of the syndicates behind the fraudulent scam in a renewed bid to clap down on internet fraudsters. This was made possible through an initiative tagged “project Eagle claw”. Project Eagle Claw, an initiative of the EFCC for the smart use of technology in fighting cyber crime, has today projected the EFCC into an international limelight. Hitherto the EFCC structure for combating cyber crime revolved around Cyber raids and Investigation of petitions.

At inception, Mrs. Farida Waziri, EFCC Chairman, had promised Nigerians that the Commission expects that “Eagle Claw”, as conceived, will be 100 percent operational within six months and at full capacity, will take Nigeria out of the top 10 list of countries with the highest incidence of fraudulent e-mails; as to her, over 800 fraudulent e-mail addresses have been identified and shut down adding that the EFCC is fine-tuning security modalities with Microsoft and upon full deployment, the capacity to track down fraudulent e-mails will increase to 5,000 monthly. There have been over 30 arrests of high profile syndicates operating cyber crime organizations. Today, the EFCC has the option of either monitoring or shutting down all fraudulent email addresses. Besides, the EFCC can now identify victims and potential victims and advised them that their email have been compromised.

Statistically, roughly one percent of the millions of people who receive 419 e-mails and faxes are successfully scammed. Annual losses to the scam in the United States total more than $100 million, and law enforcement officials believe global losses may total over $1.5 billion."

According to the "IFCC 2001 Internet Fraud Report", published by the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center, Nigerian letter fraud cases amount to 15.5 percent of all grievances. The Internet Fraud Complaint Center (renamed the Internet Crime Complaint Center, or IC3) refers such rip-offs to the US Secret Service. While the median loss in all manner of Internet fraud was $435 - in the Nigerian scam it was a staggering $5575. But only one in ten successful crimes is reported, says the FBI's report.

That was then. Today, media reports from Australia has stated that a Queensland, Australian woman , who was coned out of more than $40,000 in an Online scam have gotten some of the money back, courtesy of the EFCC.

The basic DON’T which a prospective victim should strictly adhere to are as follows: Do not believe the promise of large sums of money for your cooperation. Do not give out any personal information regarding your savings, checking, credit, or other financial accounts. If you are solicited, do not respond and quickly notify the appropriate authorities. The "419 Coalition" is more succinct and a lot more pessimistic: NEVER pay anything up front for ANY reason, NEVER extend credit for ANY reason, NEVER honour any obligation until their cheque clears, Be skeptical of individuals representing themselves as Nigerian or other foreign government officials asking for your help in placing large sums of money in overseas bank accounts.

To eradicate the 419 scourge, leaders at all levels should work assiduously to create employment opportunities and people perception of the leaders as role models. The country's very high unemployment figure has made nonsense of the so-called democracy dividends. Great majority of Nigerian youthful school leaver's including University graduates, are without visible means of livelihood. The fact remains that most of these teeming youths cannot just watch our so-called leaders siphon their God-given wealthy. So, they resorted to alternative fraudulent means of livelihood called 419, at least to be seen as have arrived... Some of these 419ers are in the National Assembly and the State Houses of Assembly while some surround the President and governors across the country."

Though some swindlers seek to glorify their criminal activities with a political and historical context, describing the scam as a form of forced reparation for slavery, akin to the compensation paid by Germany to survivors of the holocaust; this criminal act should be condemned in its entity.

Anthony Ojelimafe

Abuja