Modern Slavery and 4-1-9 Fraud Schemes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Modern Slavery and 4-1-9 Fraud Schemes - Essay Example Some of these are a) slaves are available at cheap rate which ranges from USD 80 to USD 5000 or even more based on the quality of slaves b) bonded labors c) Forced prostitution d) Forced Marriage / Child Marriage e) Forced beggary (Symons, 2012). The major victims of slave trade are poor and downtrodden people of the society. Most of them are from destabilized states at the hands of war, natural calamities, poverty and those who suffered at the hands of civil unrest / civil wars. Q: Why is the scam letters referred to as â€Å"4-1-9† schemes?   The scam is referred to as â€Å"4-1-9† due to application of given modalities by the scammers. In addition, the article that deals with fraud as per Nigerian law and criminal code is numbered as 419 due to which, the Nigerian frauds are termed as 4-1-9 schemes (Dillon, 2008): a) Sending letters / faxes or emails to the victims by the impersonators posing themselves as representatives of foreign government agencies. b) Fake age ncies offered victims millions of dollars to deposit in their personal accounts by way of â€Å"over invoice contracts†. c) Encouraged victims to travel to the destined places to complete the transactions. d) Scammers asked victims to provide blank letterhead of their company that enumerates phone numbers, fax numbers and email addresses to correspond. e) Scammers send number of fake official documents which look as good as authenticated. By way of this technique, the company convinced victims to pay off the upfront fees/charges in advance. f) The documents that relates to â€Å"419† schemes include: a) goods / services b) real estate business c) availability of crude oil at a dam cheap rate besides facilitation of conversion of currency. Q: What is the likely profile of a typical 4-1-9 victim?   The successful fraudulent cases so far unearthed relate to upfront fees / charges that were transferred to scammers. The modus operandi is that the applicant company / indiv idual receives letter by mail from a Nigerian citizen claiming himself a top notch of the Nigerian Government. In the mentioned letter, the so-called Nigerian high official informs the company that in order to have a contract, the individual or the company has to deposit upfront fees/charges that ranges from USD 10 to 60 million as a precondition of the Nigerian Government. The source of information about the victims is a) Trade bodies b) Commercial Attaches c) Trade directories etc. They focus on a number of traders / companies of the targeted countries and send them emails, faxes and emails impersonating themselves as the high ups of the concerned ministry of the Nigerian Government in general and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation in specific to strike a deal (â€Å"What is the ‘419’ Scam?†). The scammers invited victims to travel to the said country to materialize the transaction without going through the cumbersome procedure of seeking visa. By brib ing the airport officials, they ensure entrance of victims in their country. Since the entrance in the mentioned country without having a valid visa is a serious offence, therefore the scammers use it against the victim to cow him down for the release of proposed funds. Apart from said tactic they do not mind in applying other harmful tactics if need arises.