More than a dozen Utahns have lost almost $500,000 to a well-worn Nigerian bank scam, the FBI announced Wednesday.
The victims, mostly small-business owners, thought they were the lucky recipients of an unusual flow of money from bank accounts in the African country to the United States.In each case, a group from Lagos, Nigeria, sent business owners an unsolicited announcement proclaiming that millions of dollars must be transferred out of Nigeria because of new government regulations.
Most people in Utah who got the notice by facsimile or mail simply ignored it and forwarded it to police, said FBI agent Tom Ernst. However a few thought they'd run upon a dream come true.
"We've got a 2-foot-high stack of these notices that people have given us over the last 18 months. But if they (the scammers) get even a 2 percent response, it's well worth their time," he said.
In exchange for providing a "safe" and temporary account for their money, the con artists promised targets 10 to 20 percent of the "transferred" proceeds, which usually totaled in the millions of dollars. The group said they were simply looking for a "safe" and temporary account for their money.
If the "marks" responded to the solicitation with account information, the group would send a flurry of official-looking faxes to keep the ruse going.
Then, at the last minute, the victim is told he or she must pay a "tax or fee" before the money is transferred. The fake fee is usually about $10,000. Some Utahns have paid as much as $50,000.
"They can pretty much kiss their money goodbye," Ernst said. "It's nearly impossible to get through the Nigerian government to find out where it went."
The scam first showed up about 15 years ago and has made periodic rounds since throughout the United States. Officials noted an increase in activity in Utah, Montana and Idaho two weeks ago.
Ernst said the FBI has identified suspects in Nigeria but has been unable to extradite them to the states for prosecution. "It's very difficult to get any cooperation from their government."