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Bounty hunters track net scams
Simon Hayes
JUNE 20, 2006
POLICE are using a network of amateur investigators as bounty hunters to deal with online fraud.
One of the most common online frauds, the Nigerian letter scam, varies, but focuses on a theme: an African dictator or business mogul has died leaving an unclaimed fortune.
To get their hands on it, all the "mugu" -- or victim -- has to do is pay some fees.
Thousands of Australians fall victim to the scammers every year.
A recent study by Queensland Police detectives found that known victims from that state alone handed over $7 million to Nigerian crooks over a two-month period.
In one case identified recently by Nigeria Police, a scammer pretended information he was providing had been certified by the Australian Embassy.
Now, a select group of Australian internet experts has gone undercover, informally recruited by the South Africa Police Service to hunt and hand over the scammers.
"Scammers are professional liars and conmen, criminals pure and simple," said one Australian bounty hunter, who asked to be identified only as NN.
"They prey on anyone who will respond."
NN is a member of internet conman baiting site 419eater.com.
The site, which gets its name from the section of the Nigerian penal code dealing with fraud, is there to catch scammers in the act.
Many of the bounty hunters have been recruited by South Africa Police to "collect information and intelligence" on crooks.
They play along with scammers, identifying their location by their internet protocol address or by information they receive as the scam proceeds, and then hand the details to police.
"We pretend to be different characters, such as elderly retired people," NN said.
In a number of cases, information provided to police by scam baiters has led to convictions.
The bounty hunters are vetted by South Africa Police Intelligence before being admitted into a password-protected online community that allows them to share information with police around the world. The hunters are going public because they are afraid victims will continue to walk head-first into financial ruin, or worse.
"Scammers will meet you at the airport, escort you to your business meeting and then kidnap or kill you," NN said.
"Then they will steal the money out of your wallet."
In 2004, Melbourne financial adviser Robert Andrew Street was jailed for five years for a $1 million fraud.
He had stolen money from his clients and handed it over to a Nigerian scammer who had, in turn, defrauded him.
NN is frustrated that people continue to fall for the scam.
"People will pay hundreds of thousands of dollars," he said.
"The younger generation in Nigeria sees their friends getting lucky, and in a poor country that's a lifetime's wage."
Nigerian letter scammers are members of organised criminal gangs.
Ogas, or bosses, recruit a set of educated, English-speaking managers, who supervise groups of 15-30 young men working on commission, writing letters and playing their victims.
"The loss is not only financial," NN said.
"The victims borrow from family and friends as well."
Fellow bounty hunter Nick, also Australian, has spoken to scammers, and warns internet users not to underestimate them.
The criminals often blame colonialism for the high rate of crime in Nigeria, something Nick labels "rubbish", since many of the victims come from developing countries.
"Most scammers are intelligent, and they know we exist. They call us joke men," he said.
"They don't care how eccentric their clients are as long as they get the money."
Nick has developed his own way of causing problems for criminals, hacking into their email accounts and sending warning messages to the victims.
Unfortunately, this does not often work.
"Sometimes it works, but most of the time they refuse to believe me," he said.
"They want to know how I could have discovered their secret transaction."
The Australian
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Lance Allen Wilkinson
Recoveries by L.A.W.
Serving since 1984
“What is sought is found... what is overlooked escapes” (Oedipus Rex)
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