Nigeria Working To Put A Stop To Scams
Olu Agbi - the Nigerian high commissioner - stated this week that anyone who falls for ‘Nigerian Scams’ are not victims - but are thieves who are too greedy to say no and deserve some time in jail. Nigeria has gained a bit of a reputation because of the amount of scams that have been caused by a number of people. He said that those who are involved in it are just as guilty as those who are running the operation.
“The Nigerian Government frowns very seriously on these scams… and every day tries to track down those who are involved,” Olu Agbi told the Sydney Morning Herald in response to a previous article on Australians falling for Nigerian scams. “People who send their money are as guilty as those who are asking them to send the money.”
Out of the 140 million people in Nigeria, Olu Agbi said that fewer than 0.1 percent were involved in Nigerian scams. Scammers send huge checks to unsuspecting victims with some story attached to explain the overpayment, and the victim is expected to wire back the difference immediately. Eventually when the checks are deposited, they bounce and the victim is out a lot of money. Sometimes, victims are tricked into thinking they’ll eventually be paid back and continue to participate in this endless cycle of sending money, especially if the scammer is wooing them romantically.
Although this kind of fraud originates from all over the world, it seems to have an unusually high concentration in Africa and, specifically, Nigeria. This has, unsurprisingly, cast Nigeria in a negative light. Olu Agbi said that Nigeria’s reputation for being involved with the scams has even hurt the country’s ability to land business deals. “[T]hose who want to transact business with us are always very suspicious,” he told the newspaper.
Still, Olu Agbi’s “blame the victim” mentality won’t help Nigeria win any friends, but education on how to spot 419 scams and avoid falling for them can certainly go a long way in curbing their growth. After all, once victims stop blindly forking over cash, scammers will have to figure out some other way to make money.