Tripping over visions of one big free lunch: `419' victims unfazed by idea of abetting fraud.



Byline: Laura Ofobike, Beacon Journal chief editorial writer

Feb. 21--There must be a term to the life of a scam after which it should not work anymore. A decade or two ought to be long enough for even outliers to spot an international scam a mile off. But the con artistry that originated in Nigeria as "419," after a section of the Nigerian criminal code, is not yet a spent force. And you've got to ask: Why is that? A North Canton nurse, apparently, is $135,000 in the hole for swallowing the bait. Give her credit for the courage to go public with her story. Heaven knows, she can't count on much else except grief. To the chagrin of every law-abiding Nigerian, this scam went international long ago, the Internet and junk e-mail giving it limitless access to business and private computers. Any crook with a computer can compose a "Nigerian" letter, and they do so by the thousands, making a handsome living sending millions of invitations from Australia, South Africa, Liberia, Lithuania, India, everywhere. You could hardly think anyone would believe the ****-and-bull stories.

There was reason to sympathize with those who were fleeced when the ruse was young. The format was not well-known. The crooks might send a letter to a church, for example, announcing that a member of its congregation had died during a visit to Nigeria, leaving a bequest worth a few million dollars to the church. The money, they said, could not be released until various fees (the tabulation usually added up to a small percentage of the presumed bequest) had been paid. If the church would oblige by sending its bank information and authorization for withdrawal, the arrangements would be handled and the bequest duly deposited. Credible enough. A pastor might be forgiven for recalling that once upon a time, manna did fall out of the clear blue. In the years that foreign residents have been "419"-ed, the scam has spawned numerous variations. All the same, nearly every one of these invitations I have seen (and I have received scores of them by post and by e-mail over the years) has had one element in common. Invariably, each one has revealed some honesty, yes, honesty, about its intentions. They have not tried to hide the purpose, which is that they are inviting the recipient to participate in a deal that will not bear the light of day. You don't have to read too far to understand that were you to agree to the deal, you would be an accomplice in depriving somebody or the government of Nigeria of substantial amounts of money you yourself have no claim to. Invariably, those letters will announce upfront something like this: The sender had a contract with the government to supply something or other and falsified the documentation, overcharging the government. Or a government official or a business associate came to an untimely end before he or she could dispose of a stash of funds. If you would help get the money out of the country, you get a cut. But first, provide your bank information to facilitate the process.

The North Canton ruse did not sound like much of a variation on the standard: A wealthy Nigerian has died. Help smuggle the money out before the government or anybody (family, perhaps?) can get it, and for your trouble, you'll get $6 million. Now, suppose the story were true: Why would the possibility of depriving the government of Nigeria of at least $6 million not faze someone in Ohio? Does Nigeria not deserve the estate taxes or does a foreign resident have more right to it? Why would it have been OK to short the government? Sure the con artists count on naivete and a little (or maybe a lot of) greed, the prospect of a great deal of income for virtually no output. They also count on a few among the millions who recieve these solicitations being willing to dabble in something else: a little criminality if it involves a government that can't go after them. That's the scary thing. This particular scam scouts for accomplices, and it's clear there are those who don't give that a thought if they think they will profit handsomely from assisting in defrauding somebody else's government.

In this ruse, it's the would-be taker who gets taken. If a wealthy American died in Ohio, I doubt very much that the unfortunate victim would consider colluding with a foreign citizen to cut Uncle Sam out of the taxes. What surprises isn't that people are naive. Or that they haven't heard of this most transparent of international scams. Or that in different situations, our eyes can grow bigger than our brains. What surprises is that some people refuse to see an invitation to crime for what it is.