An utterly confused article about Nigerian 419 fraud that ran in Barron’s last week led with an eye-popping stat: “An updated version of the Nigerian letter scam is making the rounds, and has already tricked 13,500 U.S. victims out of as much as $40.5 million."
Of course, any stat can be made eye-popping when it’s pulled straight out of someone’s butt.
The article began soundly enough by describing Nigerian 419 fraud—scams where someone claims to have millions of dollars they’d like to get out of a country, usually Nigeria, but needs assistance doing so. The scammers offer would-be dupes a large percentage of the transaction if they’ll let the money pass through their account.
Once someone takes the bait, they are told some advance fees are required to process paperwork or bribe government officials. When 419 fraud works, the scammer will keep coming up with new fees and the scammee will keep paying in an effort not to lose money already spent.
“The man behind these missives is a professional fraudster in Lagos who goes by the G-mail alias Macjon,” said the article in Barron’s.
Really? One guy? Why, he must be superhuman!
To be fair, the article later said there are an estimated 100 419 scammers at work in Nigeria; however, even that number is unknowable and seemingly extremely low.
The article in Barron’s then jumped from advanced-fee fraud to Nigerian counterfeit-check fraud without pointing out that these are two different types of scams. In counterfeit-check fraud, the scammer convinces the scammee to deposit a check in his or her account and wire 90% or so of the funds back to the scammer.
Of course, the check is fake, but by the time the bank figures this out, the scammer is long gone and the scammee is left responsible for making up for the lost funds.
“Your bank makes the money available within a few days, but invariably, once you've sent the 90%, Macjon's check bounces back as counterfeit,” the article in Barron’s said.
Then comes the whopper:
“Investigators in the U.K. who are tracking him note that, since Dec. 1, 2008, Macjon has targeted 13.5 million Americans with the work-at-home e-mail scam. Investigators estimate his success rate at around 0.1%. That's 13,500 victims from whom he's stolen as much as $40.5 million,” the article said.
Pop! What was that sound? Why it’s the sound of a stat coming straight out of someone’s butt.
Thirteen thousand, five hundred people scammed by one man from Dec. 1 2008 until today works out to 29 people a day.
Man, that Macjon must be a lightning-fast typer.
Each of these scams involves e-mails back and forth, the sending of a check and a wire transfer, and Macjon alone is successfully pulling off 29 a day?
There’s a reporter at Barron’s who needs to pull out his calculator a little more often.
