The United States Department of State (Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affair) has issued a very useful, informative and, more importantly, READABLE document online about the most common type of international fraud<\/p>\n
Here’s an excerpt:<\/p>\n
… AFF criminals include university-educated professionals who are the best in the world for nonviolent spectacular crimes. AFF letters first surfaced in the mid-1980s around the time of the collapse of world oil prices, which is Nigeria\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s main foreign exchange earner. Some Nigerians turned to crime in order to survive. Fraudulent schemes such as AFF succeeded in Nigeria, because Nigerian criminals took advantage of the fact that Nigerians speak English, the international language of business, and the country\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s vast oil wealth and natural gas reserves\u00e2\u20ac\u201dranked 13th in the world\u00e2\u20ac\u201doffer lucrative business opportunities that attract many foreign companies and individuals.
\nAFF confidence schemes are limited only by imagination, however, they usually fall into the following categories:
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Transfer of Funds From Over-Invoiced Contracts
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Contract Fraud (C.O.D. of Goods and Services)
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Conversion of Hard Currency (Black-Money)
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Sale of Crude Oil at Below Market Prices
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Purchase of Real Estate
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Disbursement of Money from Wills (Benefactor of a Will)
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Threat Scams or Extortion
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Clearinghouse
\nEach of these business schemes will be discussed in detail in the section entitled AFF Schemes: Themes and Variations.
\nAccording to the Metropolitan Police Company Fraud Department in London, some 3,000 AFF letters a week are mailed or faxed worldwide; primarily from Nigeria.
\nThe United States and Great Britain are the recipients of over 50 percent of this material. <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n