Taiwan MOFA Warns People Against Nigerian Scams

As per the warning released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) of Taiwan in the third week of June 2010, the public should take precautions and be careful against online scams. The warning has come in wake of fake Nigerian spam campaigns in which nearly 12 Taiwanese had fallen victims. Among the victims, one woman was raped in Malaysia two months back in April 2010 by the scammers.

The MOFA has revealed that there are many forms of Nigerian scams that originated in the early 1990s. These scams have become famous with a name of "419" scam - an indication to the article of the Nigerian Criminal Code deal with fraud.

The most common types of online scam that target Taiwanese is e-mail scam. The e-mail scam asks computer users to reveal their personal information and bank account information to share a big percentage of million of dollars.

In addition, the Ministry has highlighted that online scams include online transactions wherein Taiwanese seller has catalogued items on websites such as eBay and a buyer (based in Nigeria) places an attractive high bid.

Charles Chou, Section Chief of the Department of African Affairs, said that the buyer (scammer) claims that the Nigerian regulations did not permit the money wire transfer internationally to the natives until they receive the item, as reported by chinapost on June 19, 2010.

This is the second time in less than a month when the MOFA has released a warning about taking precautions against the scams. In May 2010, the MOFA urged Internet merchants to be vigilant against the Nigerian frauds after the filing of four different cases of Nigerian frauds in the month of April 2010.

The MOFA officials have disclosed that the frequency at which Taiwanese falling victim to the scam is substantially high. Most of the fraudsters take advantage of highly educated population who communicate in English and the country developed infrastructure.

Finally, to mitigate the effects of the Nigerian scams, Chou states that the department has recommended to the Homeland Security Office that all the popular websites in Taiwan display a running headline on the page to warn sellers about different online scams.

Related article: Twin phishing E-Mails Pose from Bank of Hanover

» SPAMfighter News - 7/5/2010