SCAMPATROL

[legalorg]

SCAMMERS CAN BE DANGEROUS !!

Meeting the perpetrators of advance fee fraud can be dangerous to your health as well as to your bank balance.

We are aware that some victims have been held for ransom, assaulted, robbed or killed when meeting offenders of Advance Fee Fraud in various countries.

Never doubt the violent nature of scammers involved in Advance Fee Fraud. Statistics show that meeting with violence is indeed a real risk that should be avoided.

Millions of individuals from around the world receive fraudulent money making business proposals to move money from one country to another, which offer lucrative incentives to the victims. These include winning notifications for international lotteries.

Thousands of recipients of these scam letters enter into correspondence with the fraudsters.

Hundreds of recipients eventually travel across the globe to physically meet their ‘business partners’ in the misguided hope of gaining some financial reward.

The majority of victims travelling to meet offenders will, hopefully, walk away unharmed physically, returning to their own country eventually, suffering only financial harm.

Below we give a few examples that we have knowledge of, where individuals have not been so lucky when meeting Advance Fee Fraud offenders:

1995
During 1995 the United States Secret Service assigned agents to Lagos, Nigeria, for the purpose of locating and rescuing victims of Nigerian 419 Advance Fee Fraud offenders.

In this year seven (7) victims were extricated, and another was found murdered.

1999
In June 1999 Jean Pierre Li Shing Tat, a Canadian national from Mauritius, was, tragically, found alongside a road outside Johannesburg, South Africa. He was found bound and shot twice in the head. His family had earlier received a ransom note demanding US$200 000 after he travelled to meet his ‘business partner’ in a 419 scam.

During September 1999, Norwegian millionaire, Kjetil Moc, was kidnapped and found murdered in South Africa after travelling to meet offenders in a 419 scam. The victim was 65 years of age when murdered.

Danut Mircea Tetrescu was kidnapped during November 1999 and held for ransom in Soweto, outside Johannesburg. Police intervened and saved the victim, which led to the arrest of seven (7) offenders.

1999 also saw the kidnapping of Kensuke Matsumoto, a Japanese national, who travelled to South Africa to meet offenders of a 419 scam. This victim escaped with his life when he managed to flee from his captors in Durban.

Also in 1999, five more individuals were kidnapped and held for ransom. After ransom was paid by family members of four (4) victims they were released. The fifth victim was freed by police.

2001
During July 2001 a former deputy mayor of Northampton travelled to South Africa after being lured into a Nigerian 419 scam. Upon arrival he was kidnapped and held for ransom.

2004
During 2004 a victim of a Nigerian 419 scam was requested to travel to Saudi Arabia to meet the individuals he was ‘assisting’ in a fake financial deal. Upon his arrival he was kidnapped, assaulted and robbed of the money he brought along. He was tied up and left in a hotel room, whereupon the two offenders fled. The victim managed to free himself and, after notifying authorities, the two offenders were apprehended.

During December 2004 a Cypriot victim, George Macromallis, travelled to South Africa for a second time to meet offenders in a Nigerian 419 scam. Upon meeting them he was kidnapped. After co-operation with informers of 419Legal, the victim was traced to Durban where police discovered his dead body. His family had received a notice to pay ransom. Despite that, the offenders had assaulted the victim, broken his arms and legs and set him alight before he died.

2005
Early in 2005 a Brazilian victim was lured to South Africa in a Nigerian 419 scam. Upon arrival the victim was taken to a quiet area where offenders assaulted him. He was robbed of all his money and left on a roadside. Terrified, the victim returned to his country without laying formal charges.

From the few recorded items above it is clear that offenders of Advance Fee Fraud pose a great risk to victims they are defrauding. Although the majority of fraudsters tend not to be violent, the risk of falling victim to violence, when meeting fraudsters, is very real.

stickyfied - Captain Igloo