Nigeria Tackles Advance Fee Fraud

Abstract

'Why do some very clever people do this instead of a legitimate job, which may pay just as much but without the risk of prison? It's because I enjoy the power. The power of the burglar or the car thief or mugger in physical. The power of the con artist like me is mental' Quote from a scammer 1. Introduction The term '419' is coined from section 419 of the Nigerian criminal code (part of Chapter 38: Obtaining Property by false pretences; Cheating) dealing with fraud. Nowadays, the axiom '419' generally refers to a complex list of offences which in ordinary parlance are related to stealing, cheating, falsification, impersonation, counterfeiting, forgery and fraudulent representation of facts (Tive, 2006, p. 3). The main difference between '419' scam and stealing is the 'false pretence' which is the major element in '419' scam. According to Section 23 of the advance fee fraud (2) decree: 'False pretence means a representation, whether deliberate or reckless, made by word, in writing or by conduct, of a matter of fact or law, either past or present, which representation is false in fact or law, and which the person making it knows to be false or does not believe to be true'. Section 383 sub-section 1 of the Nigerian Criminal Code states: 'A person who fraudulently takes anything capable of being stolen, or fraudulently converts to his own use or to the use of any other person anything capable of being stolen, is said to steal that thing'. It must be noted that falsification, impersonation, forgery and fraudulent representation of facts are all related tools that combine to either abet or facilitate the advance fee fraud (Tive, 2006, p. 4). Advance fee fraud did not start with the Internet, although the Internet enables the criminals to reach a greater number of potential victims more quickly and economically, and sometimes without being traced (Reich, 2004, p. 2). In the United Kingdom, the Audit Commission has conducted four triennial surveys of computer-related fraud based on a definition referring to: 'any fraudulent behavior connected with computerisation by which someone intends to gain financial advantage'. Such a definition is capable of encompassing a vast range of activities some of which may have only the most tenuous connection with a computer (Chawki, 2005, p. 41). The Council of Europe, in its report on computer-related crime advocates the establishment of an offence consisting of: 'The input, alteration, erasure or suppression of computer data or computer programmes [sic], or other interference with the course of data processing, that influences the result of data processing thereby causing economic loss or possessor loss of property of another person, or with the intent of procuring an unlawful economic gain for himself or for another person' (Chawki, 2005, p. 42). However this definition is broad in scope. It would appear for example that the proposed offence would be committed by a person who wrongfully uses another party's cash dispensing card to withdraw funds from a bank account. Although there can be little doubt about the criminality of such conduct, the involvement of the computer is purely incidental. In most areas of traditional legal interests, the involvement of computer data does not cause specific legal problems. The respective legal provisions are formulated in terms of results and it is completely irrelevant if this result is achieved with the involvement of a computer or not. The Online Etymology Dictionary associates 419 scam to a nineteenth century British slang 'scamp', which means 'cheater' or 'swindler'. All the same, ever since 1963, when some scholars say the term 'scam' made it into written literature for the first time, the central meaning has not changed--it is a trick, a ruse, a swindle, a racket (Igwe, 2007, p. 6). Although 419 is broached as a global phenomenon, it did emerge from Nigeria and was the brainchild of a group of Nigerian nationals (Igwe, 2007, p. …