LONDON: Nigeria-related financial crimes such as Internet scams and credit card fraud are costing the UK economy about £150 million a year, as the government diverts resources to control terrorist financing, drugs and people trafficking, according to a recently completed research.
Independent research company Chatham House said the British government had been unable to keep a check on phising, advance fee, credit card and cheque frauds. The average loss to individuals amounts to £31,000, its report estimates.
Michael Peel, chief researcher for the company, said both British and Nigerian authorities had not prioritized what it calls a “large and pressing problem for the UK”. His report blamed the widespread crime on “a small minority of Nigerians, relative to the size of the country and the number of nationals resident in Britain or visiting it".
Despite the small number of people involved, their success reflects the UK authorities' inability to deal with the problem effectively. The British government's methods to deal with such crime have serious “political and logistical shortcomings”, the report said.
A significant percentage of Internet users have received or continue to receive emails which announce that the recipient has won an international lottery; but the prize money can only be claimed after paying an advance fee. Gullible recipients are easily conned into such tricks and end up losing huge sums of money. This type of scam is known as the 'advance fee 419' (the number relates to a Nigerian criminal act).
Phising, where recipients are asked for their account information is also growing rapidly. A large number of these emails, about 70 – 80 percent, were traced to Nigerian servers.
Cheque fraud is also picking pace. While examining packages sent from Nigeria, at Heathrow airport last year, custom officials found forged cheques and postal orders worth £20 million, on a single day.
Another common email scam is where the recipient is asked for help in getting money out of a country. The recipients are conned into providing their account information, using which the scammers transfer money out of the account.
The report ends by urging British authorities to work in closer coordination with their Nigerian counterparts in order to control and prevent such crimes.
