2009-11-01
Abstract
Nigerian government clamps down on advance fee fraud.
Copyright © 2009 Virus Bulletin
After years of being inextricably linked to the advance fee fraud scam, the government of Nigeria is launching an offensive to clamp down on the activity. Despite the advance fee fraud scam now being prevalent across the globe, it is widely accepted that the scam originated in Nigeria – indeed, the type of scam is also commonly known as both the Nigerian scam and the 419 scam (419 referring to the section of the Nigerian criminal code violated by the scam). The government now aims to remove Nigeria from the top 10 list of countries with the highest incidence of fraudulent emails.
Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) announced last month that, aided by Microsoft, it has begun a large-scale crackdown on its indigenous email scammers. More than 800 fraudulent email accounts have already been identified and shut down, while the EFCC anticipates being able to take down 5,000 fraudulent emails per month as well as sending around 230,000 advisory mails to victims and potential victims per month once the operation gathers full pace. So far there have been 18 arrests of individuals suspected of coordinating organized cybercrime rings. The operation, dubbed ‘Eagle Claw’, is expected to be fully operational within six months.
