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Unmasking the Nigerian Email Scammers

A SCARS Insight

Nigerian Email Scams

BY BOWEN XIAO, Epoch Times
October 17, 2018 Updated: October 17, 2018

The following was excerpted to assure its continued availability. Source

Stolen Profits From BUSINESS EMAIL COMPROMISE (BEC) Schemes, Including The Infamous “Nigerian” Email Scams, Have Grown Exponentially Across The Globe Over The Past Decade.

From January 2015 to February 2017, identified losses from such scams had increased 1,300 percent, totaling over $3 billion globally. By May 2018, the losses had grown to $12.5 billion, according to the FBI’s IC3 (Internet Crime Complaint Center).

Losses Increased 1,300 Percent

BEC scams, also known as “cyber-enabled financial fraud,” use deceptive emails that employ phishing and social media fraud tactics to target victims. Common conventional methods include spoofed emails and malware; tracked real estate and romance. Victims are often persuaded to make wire transfers to bank accounts controlled by perpetrators.

These schemes have been reported in all 50 states in America and across 150 countries worldwide.

“I know you have banking trojans and different kinds of ransomware, but when you go and look at the numbers, BEC and related fraud is the number one financial threat to the industry,” Ronnie Tokazowski, a senior malware analyst at Flashpoint and founder of the BEC List, told The Epoch Times.

“Just looking at the money that’s lost, it’s not a linear graph. It kind of starts peaking up. More and more people are getting into this game because they are able to see profits.”

The BEC List is a sequestered industry group with 530 members including Fortune 500 companies, law enforcement, researchers, and internet companies who have been privately collaborating against Nigerian email schemes for the past three years—and it recently went public. The group has contributed to over a hundred fraud-related arrests worldwide.

Prominent destinations of laundered funds include “Asian banks located in China and Hong Kong” according to the FBI. Recently, financial institutions in the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Turkey have also been identified by the FBI as primary locations, based on financial data.

Foreign criminals perpetrate many of the BEC scams, some individuals are members of transnational criminal organizations that originated in Nigeria but have since spread globally.

Nigerian Culture

Tokazowski said that many of the common BEC tactics come from Nigeria. Probably the most widely known involves a foreign perpetrator who states that his money is tied up temporarily and offers his victim a large sum of money if they pay the “taxes.” Many of these scams try to appeal to the victim’s emotions.

According to Tokazowski, the culture in Nigeria plays a significant role in encouraging BEC schemes. He said Nigeria has infamously become a “hotbed” for it.

“With Nigeria, one of the bigger culture shifts is really the level of corruption—the kind of culture that in some places, this is acceptable and this type of fraud is acceptable. You also have cases where previous BEC actors who go under the handle the ‘Yahoo Boys’ were very highly praised.”

The Yahoo Boys, young Nigerian men, employed a range of internet fraud tactics to get rich and often flaunted their lavish spoils, promoting a desirable way of life for the con-artists.

The schemes also infiltrated Nigeria’s music industry.

“A lot of these Nigerian rappers they’ll go and start singing, they’ll make rap songs singing praises of their operations and how they were able to wire money off and things like that,” Tokazowski said. “It’s this culture that developed to a kind of legitimize the business of stealing money from different clients.”

Tokazowski referenced one rap video titled “I Go Chop Your Dollar” as an example. The lyrics referenced wire fraud profusely and the rapper was eventually arrested several years later.

The song includes lyrics such as: “I be the master. I go take your money and disappear, you are the loser and I am the winner. The contract na you I go give em. But you go pay me more money, make I bring em.

Operation Wire Wire

Several members from Tokazowski’s BEC group were also involved with an FBI operation dubbed “Wire Wire” that aimed to disrupt BEC schemes and culminated in the arrest of 74 people in the United States and overseas. In Nigeria, 29 perpetrators were arrested, according to the Justice Department.

The operation seized nearly $2.4 million and recovered approximately $14 million in fraudulent wire transfers.

Tokazowski also described the BEC schemes from Nigeria as not too technically complex when compared to other countries.

“From a technical perspective, I would consider it lower level … it’s usually more simple with how they do it,” he said. “If Nigeria were to become a nation-state threat, I would say that they are probably a couple of years away from that.”

He also noted that Nigerian scammers are evolving and what they do still affects people today.

“Just with the way that they are operating its a very difficult crime to look at and solve,” he said. “There’s no malware associated with it. With a lot of fraud going on with this stuff, you have human lives that are affected.”

Scammers also are constantly trying to figure out new and creative ways to steal money.

Tokazowski said of the emerging tactics he has seen recently involved the use of gift cards to get personal information, often through the use of a romantic phishing account.

“A lot of the actors are learning, it’s starting to become a problem,” he added.

The foregoing was excerpted to assure its continued availability. Source: https://www.theepochtimes.com/unmasking-the-nigerian-email-scammers_2692031.html – Third-party copyrights acknowledged

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Published On: October 17th, 2018Last Updated: March 25th, 2022Categories: ♦ ABOUT SCAMSTags: , , , , , , , 2 Comments on Unmasking the Nigerian Email Scammers924 words4.6 min readTotal Views: 2218Daily Views: 1

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  1. Unmasking the Nigerian Email Scammers 1
    Ingrid Shannon October 23, 2018 at 5:23 am - Reply

    I was writing to some one for over 4 years,not for love,just friends,it went from holland to Ghana,to Togo,to Benin ,to Cambodia,to Burkina Faso,lost most my money,oh also England,bud to go to FBI ,woman on phone,laughing at you,so I am stuck,no place to go,and sick,do I want to go on,no,lost my children to this,,oh there is so much,how and where do I start,have al mail and addresses,,what did I do,fell for the oldest scam,I gues,nice words so,if you want more,,I have bank accounts,one is a real bank and also wrote to me,and many more,so maybe you get back to me,,thanks ms.shannon

    • Unmasking the Nigerian Email Scammers 2
      Romance Scams Now Editorial Team October 23, 2018 at 9:42 am - Reply

      Ingrid, you are in pain – we understand that. So many have gone through the same thing. Why don’t you join us here and let other victims help you through this?
      https://www.facebook.com/groups/RSN.Support.Group.27/ This is one of our support groups – just other victims like yourself – people who have been through this and survived. We can help you understand what happened and why, and what you can do about it. Give it a try?

Your comments help the SCARS Institute better understand all scam victim/survivor experiences and improve our services and processes. Thank you


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At the SCARS Institute, we invite you to do your own research on the topics we speak about and publish, Our team investigates the subject being discussed, especially when it comes to understanding the scam victims-survivors experience. You can do Google searches but in many cases, you will have to wade through scientific papers and studies. However, remember that biases and perspectives matter and influence the outcome. Regardless, we encourage you to explore these topics as thoroughly as you can for your own awareness.

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Some of our articles discuss various aspects of victims. This is both about better understanding victims (the science of victimology) and their behaviors and psychology. This helps us to educate victims/survivors about why these crimes happened and to not blame themselves, better develop recovery programs, and to help victims avoid scams in the future. At times this may sound like blaming the victim, but it does not blame scam victims, we are simply explaining the hows and whys of the experience victims have.

These articles, about the Psychology of Scams or Victim Psychology – meaning that all humans have psychological or cognitive characteristics in common that can either be exploited or work against us – help us all to understand the unique challenges victims face before, during, and after scams, fraud, or cybercrimes. These sometimes talk about some of the vulnerabilities the scammers exploit. Victims rarely have control of them or are even aware of them, until something like a scam happens and then they can learn how their mind works and how to overcome these mechanisms.

Articles like these help victims and others understand these processes and how to help prevent them from being exploited again or to help them recover more easily by understanding their post-scam behaviors. Learn more about the Psychology of Scams at www.ScamPsychology.org

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The information provided in this article is intended for educational and self-help purposes only and should not be construed as a substitute for professional therapy or counseling.

While any self-help techniques outlined herein may be beneficial for scam victims seeking to recover from their experience and move towards recovery, it is important to consult with a qualified mental health professional before initiating any course of action. Each individual’s experience and needs are unique, and what works for one person may not be suitable for another.

Additionally, any approach may not be appropriate for individuals with certain pre-existing mental health conditions or trauma histories. It is advisable to seek guidance from a licensed therapist or counselor who can provide personalized support, guidance, and treatment tailored to your specific needs.

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