View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Unisa Institutional Repository ADVANCE FEE FRAUD by DENIS YOMI TANFA submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY in the subject CRIMINOLOGY at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA PROMOTER: PROF. HERMAN CONRADIE MARCH 2006 Student number: 32791763 I declare that ADVANCE FEE FRAUD is my own work and that all the sources that I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of complete references. ………………… …………………. Signature Date DY TANFA DEDICATED TO: MY FAMILY ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Once again, my sincere and heartfelt thanks in the Powerful Name of Jesus to Prof. Herman Conradie for his consistent encouragement, patience, wisdom, professional and spiritual guidance and supervision throughout this research. The cry of my heart is that God should guide, protect and be with you all the days of your life. In my heart you will stay forever young. God bless you. My appreciation and thanks also goes to the Council for the Development of Social Research in Africa (CODESRIA) for awarding me a small grant for the writing of this thesis. Thanks also to Prof Barney Pityana: Principal and Vice Chancellor of UNISA for a merit bursary awarded to me during the course of this research. I also want to thank the Department of Correctional Services for granting me permission to interview offenders in their facilities. In this regard, I would want to sincerely thank Dr S. Bengu: Director of Research and Mr AJC Venter: Director of Security Management and all the Head of Prisons that I visited, for giving me the necessary support during my interview with Advance Fee Fraud (AFF) offenders in their facilities. Many thanks also go to all the offenders that I interviewed in prison who gave up their time to assist, and enthusiastically provided me with their honest and unprejudiced information that enabled me to gain insight into the AFF phenomenon. My deep appreciation also goes to all the AFF offenders out of prison, for taking the courage to speak to me on a street corner, on how AFF is committed. Thanks to the victims of this fraud who also reluctantly accepted me for an interview regarding their victimisation. My appreciation goes to all the staff at the Department of Criminology Unisa, for their moral support and encouragement in this research. These appreciations go especially to Prof CW Marais: Head of Department, Prof JH Prinsloo, Prof S Joubert, Prof A van der Hoven and Prof. JJ Nesser. I also want to express my deep gratitude to Prof MS Makhanya: Executive Dean of College of Human Sciences and Prof N Baijna th: Vice Principal of Strategic Planning and Partnership of Unisa for their relentless encouragement and moral support during the course of this research. A special thanks to all my family members especially, Mr. and Mrs. Mbanya Flaubert, Mr Mbanya Celestin, Dr Mrs. Mofor Bridgette, Dr Mbanya Justin, Snr. Barrister Bolevie Mbanya, Mr and Mrs Mbanya Charles and Mbanya Beauclaire and Ms Mbanya Vivian. I thank them very kind ly for their continued support, sacrifices and the long suffering they had to endure while I was busy with this research. To all my late family members, I say to them, may sunshine and happiness surround your soul and may your guiding light be strong in heaven. Thanks to all my friends particularly Dr MD Esona, Dr. O Biketi, Mr. Njimi Jean- Marie, Mr Ernest Ketcha, Mr Kounja Denis, Mr Nasiru Uba Alhaji, my spiritual Sisters Anna -Mari Pretorius and Superintendent of Police Logan Govender for their support and assistance in this research. Many thanks go to Inspector of Police Paul Ramaloko and Mr Lawrence Matamela for their logistic support during this research. My thanks also go to ERN Pedro for her constant support and assistance throughout this research. Gratitude goes also to Ms. C. Van Zyl for transcribing the interviews for this research and Mrs Dorothy Cilliers and Debbie Le Roux for their time in the editing of this thesis. Many thanks also to my colleagues at the International School of Ministry: AFnet for all their prayers. Finally, I raise and thanked the Almighty God in the Name of Jesus for giving me the courage, strength, hope and understanding in my life that enabled me to complete this research. A wise man once said: “It will all work out in the end, and if it doesn’t, then it is not the end…” “If something is good, do it even if it means taking a little bit of risk, for that’s what makes a man”. SUMMARY The focus of this thesis is on Advance Fee Fraud (419 scams) on how it is executed and more importantly, on how it can be prevented. The research addresses the origins of AFF, the nature and extent of this crime and how the perpetrators are able to defraud their victims. The research described, examined and analysed the crimes, the perpetrators, the victims, adjudication and the prevention strategies of this fraud. Information was gathered through literature and empirical research. A qualitative research method was used to gather information from AFF offenders who were incarcerated in South African prisons in 2005. The results of the empirical research were carefully examined, analyzed and integrated into the various chapters of this thesis. A theoretical framework was also developed in an attempt to explain this complex phenomenon. The findings and recommendations in terms of the crimes, the criminals, the victims, adjudication and prevention were also made and some suggestions for further research thereof were also cited. KEY WORDS: Advance Fee Fraud, perpetrators, victims, adjudication, prevention, Nigeria, West Africa, South Africa, United States, Corruption, modus operandi, extortion, money laundering, forgery, Internet scams, plea bargain, police investigation, sentence, punishment, criminals, victimisation, email, 419 scam, black currency, statement of victims, statement of perpetrators, banks accounts, organised crime. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION AND METHODOLOGY Page no: 1.1 ORIENTATION 1 1.2 THE AIMS AND METHOD (S) OF STUDY 5 1.2.1 Aims of study 5 1.2.2 Method of study 5 1.3 DELIMITATION AND SCOPE OF THE FIELD OF STUDY 6 1.4 DEFINITIONS 7 1.4.1 Crime 7 1.4.2 Fraud 8 1.4.3 Advance Fee Fraud 9 1.4.4 Perpetrators 12 1.4.5 Victims 13 1.5 RESARCH PROBLEMS EXPERIENCED 13 1.6 DIVISION OF CONTENTS 16 1.6.1 Chapter 1 16 1.6.2 Chapter 2 16 1.6.3 Chapter 3 17 1.6.4 Chapter 4 17 1.6.5 Chapter 5 17 1.6.6 Chapter 6 18 1.6.7 Chapter 7 18 1.7 SUMMARY 18 CHAPTER TWO: THE NATURE AND EXTENT OF THE CRIMES 2.1 INTRODUCTION 20 2.2 ORIGIN OF ADVANCE FEE FRAUD 21 2.2.1 The social and political background of Nigeria 21 2.2.3 Categories of crimes in Nigeria 23 2.3 NATURE AND FORMS OF ADVANCE FEE FRAUD 28 2.3.1 Nature of Advance Fee Fraud 29 2.3.2 Forms of Advance Fee Fraud 34 2.3.3 Characteristics of Advance Fee Fraud 72 2.4 THE INCIDENCE OF ADVANCE FEE FRAUD 76 2.5 CAUSES OF ADVANCE FEE FRAUD 77 2.5.1 Nigeria 79 2.5.2 South Africa 81 2.6 THEORETICAL EXPLANATION OF ADVANCE FEE FRAUD 85 2.6.1 Cognitive theory 86 2.6.2 Social ecology or disorganization theory 87 2.6.3 Labelling theory 89 2.6.4 Differential association theory 90 2.6.5 Social learning theory 92 2.6.6 Differential opportunity theory 94 2.7 CONCLUSION 96 CHAPTER THREE: THE PERPETRATORS 3.1 INTRODUCTION 100 3.2 THE NATURE AND ORGANIZATION OF AFF PERPETRATORS 101 3.2.1 The nature of Advance Fee Fraud perpetrators 101 3.2.2 The organization of Advance Fee Fraud perpetrators 109 3.3 CHARACTERISTICS OF ADVANCE FEE FRAUD PERPETRATORS 116 3.3.1 Age 166 3.3.2 Gender 117 3.3.3 Occupation 117 3.3.4 Nationality 118 3.3.5 Race 120 3.3.6 Educational qualification 121 3.3.7 Criminal records 122 3.3.8 Patience 122 3.4 THE 419 PERPETRATOR’S EMAIL CYCLE 123 3.4.1 Letter drafting 125 3.4.2 Email harvesting 125 3.4.3 Initial mass solicitation 126 3.4.4 Initial victim response 126 3.4.5 Communication exchange and false documents presentation 127 3.4.6 Transfer of funds by the victim 127 3.4.7 Money laundering 128 3.5 MODUS OPERANDI OF PERPETRATORS 128 3.5.1 Criminal specialist 129 3.5.2 Supporting other criminal activities 130 3.5.3 Violence and intimidation 130 3.5.4 Corruption 133 3.5.5 Identity fraud and other misrepresentation 134 3.5.6 Intelligence gathering 135 3.5.7 The use of legitimate or quasi-legitimate businesses 136 3.5.8 Communication 137 3.5.9 Masters of manipulation 139 3.5.10 Fake Internet website 141 3.5.11 Use of law enforcement agents 142 3.6 THEORETICAL EXPLANATION OF PERPETRATORS 145 3.6.1 Sociological theories 149 3.6.2 The rational choice theories 154 3.6.3 The conflict theory 159 3.6.4 Integrated theories 161 3.7 CONCLUSION 162 CHAPTER FOUR: THE VICTIMS 4.1 INTRODUCTION 165 4.2 CATEGORIES OF VICTIMS 167 4.2.1 Crimes against specific victims 167 4.2.2 Crimes against non-specific victims 168 4.2.3 Crimes against potential victims 168 4.2.4 Crimes without victims 169 4.3 VICTIMIZATION 170 4.3.1 Types and nature of Advance Fee Fraud victimization 171 4.3.2 Re-victimization 181 4.5 CHARACTERISTICS OF ADVANCE FEE FRAUD VICTIMS 184 4.5.1 Age 185 4.5.2 Gender 185 4.5.3 Marital status 186 4.5.4 Occupation 186 4.5.5 Race 187 4.5.6 Nationality 188 4.5.7 Greedy 188 4.5.8 Crimogenic 190 4.5.9 Mind set of victims 191 4.6 EFFECTS OF ADVANCE FEE FRAUD VICTIMIZATION 192 4.6.1 Individuals 193 4.6.2 Corporations 194 4.6.3 Nations 197 4.7 THEORETICAL EXPLANATION OF ADVANCE FEE FRAUD VICTIMIZATION 200 4.7.1 Lifestyle and routine activities theories 201 4.7.2 Other theoretical developments 205 4.8 CONCLUSION