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DUE DILIGENCE - VERIFYING THE INFORMATION IN A NIGERIAN SCAM LETTER

On the other hand, let's suppose that John is feeling a little wary of the offer.  He doesn't think the letter looks too good, but doesn't want to be a complete dummy by passing up a possible opportunity - a John Duh instead of a John Smith.

His next step would be to perform DUE DILIGENCE.  We will do that now.  Well, actually, no we won't.

Until this evening (11/09/01), I had an exquisite plan of action all spelled out for you.  Since then I have been corresponding with The 419 Coalition, and it turns out there is no due diligence that can be performed.  Doesn't make sense, does it.  Yep, well wait 'til you read this.

It turns out that even should our wary John call directly to the bank listed in the evil Doctor's letter, using the number listed in the bank's directory instead of the one in the letter, he may very well be connected to the swindler anyway  - by the bank's switchboard!

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Oh, it gets worse.  One couple determined not to be taken in by any nefarious con artist  called the U.S. Embassy - whereupon the person with whom they spoke tried to get them involved in yet another 419 swindle.

The only way, and I mean the only way to avoid being taken in by a Nigerian Letter Scam (or 419'ed) is to follow these instructions implicitly:

1. NEVER pay anything up front for ANY reason.
2. NEVER extend credit for ANY reason.
3. NEVER do ANYTHING until their check clears.
4. NEVER expect ANY help from the Nigerian Government.
5. NEVER rely on YOUR Government to bail you out.

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It is in everyone's best interest to report the discovery of a scam IMMEDIATELY.  It is the accumulation of evidence, not necessarily any one incident, that leads to the crooks being put behind bars.

In the United States, Nigerian Scam Letters fall under the jurisdiction of the Secret Service who have done an outstanding job trying to stem the spread of this scam plague.  Unfortunately,  tracing the letter back to it's source is very time-consuming, and until an actual crime has been committed, the funds are simply not available for those man-hours.  If the swindler is indeed in Togo, then the trail will be even more difficult to follow. 

The GOOD NEWS is that if the culprits are here in the United States, they will be hunted down to the last man.  The same is true in Canada. where the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) have officers who specialize in Nigerian Scam Letters.

Now, go to the next page to find out exactly what to do with your letter in order to build those evidence files

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419-05