Dear Writersworld Newsletter subscriber,
We paid a small fortune for the rights to this article, which has nothing to do with writing. With respect it is to do with all of us needing to help protect decent, albeit naive, people from being "scammed" by these crooks. Our Newsletter is a way for all of us to do our bit. To this end, would you please forward it to as many people as you can, and if we stop one person from being defrauded then we have all done some good. If you wish to link to this newsletter from your website please contact us. Regards, Graham Cook, Managing Director.
Clergymen and at least one charity have fallen victim to e-mail scams, losing thousands of pounds, reports Steve Bird.
The greedy and the gullible have long been the target of Nigerian conmen who e-mail Westerners promising vast sums of money in return for help obtaining fortunes left languishing in African banks.
But, in a cynical twist, the gangs are now turning away from the greedy to exploit the compassionate and the philanthropic. At least one charity and several clergymen have lost thousands of pounds.
One charity working with starving Africans has already lost tens of thousands of pounds, and a retired vicar narrowly avoided losing his savings after he sent a Ugandan gang his bank details.
Many have lost all their savings after being taken in by letters and e-mails that contain tragic but authentic stories from "orphans" desperate to complete their education, or from cancer sufferers who want to make their peace with God and donate their wealth to good causes before they die.
The fraudsters are "harvesting" church and charity websites and directories for e-mail and home addresses. Their stories have become increasingly elaborate as the gangs exploit tragedies in war-torn and famine-hit countries.
The tactic is the latest twist in the "419 scam", named after the penal code in Nigeria that it contravenes.
Staff at the Church of England, the Methodist and Roman Catholic Church have all been targets.
Nineteen out of twenty charities contacted by The Times said staff work e mails were receiving a "constant stream" of messages. Marie Stopes UK, a sexual health charity, said that in just three weeks it received nearly 400 such e-mails. None have fallen for the cons.
However, 20 months ago Village Aid, a British charity working in Cameroon, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Gambia, lost �36,000. One employee working in Ghana gave men posing as development bankers the charity's money hoping they would give him �15 million.
He sent a �36,000 "advance fee" to an offshore account in the Netherlands.
On realising he had been conned, he vanished. James Kellie, Village Aid's chairman, believes the Ghanaian may have wanted to help the charity as well as himself. "He was naive as well as a fool. He didn't tell us what he was doing. When we found out it was horrific."
An inquiry by the Charity Commission, the charities watchdog, found the fraud was beyond the control of Village Aid, which is still trying to recover the cash.
A Charity Commission spokeswoman said: "We recognise that the charitable sector is at risk from advance fee frauds." The commission advises charities to dispose of the e-mails immediately and in no circumstances reply to them.
Recently, a retired vicar in the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich sent a cheque to Ghana for hundreds of pounds after he received a letter claiming to be from the son of an African woman dying of Aids who needed cash to finish his studies. The vicar was later contacted by his bank after someone in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, tried to transfer his savings to an offshore account.
In a separate scam, the Rt Rev Hugh Montefiore sent thousands of pounds to Uganda after receiving letters from a girl "orphaned" by civil war.
Each year 200 people in the UK contact police to say they have fallen victim to similar e-mails and have, on average, lost about �35,000. The true number of victims is believed to be considerably higher.
Nuhu Ribadu, the chairman of the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, set up to combat the 419 offence, said the Government was determined to stop the 100,000 people in the country thought to be involved.
His team of more than 400 officers have new powers to monitor communications.
The Times e-mailed 30 people believed to be involved in the 419 scam. One, called Alex, replied. He said that people got involved because they could not find work.
"If I see any other better things to do I will, but I cannot fold my hands and watch myself die of hunger, God forbid," he said.
Report by Steve Bird
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