Cheap Anti-fraud Solution for Home Country..
This idea applies to the wire and email schemes, and would probably not work for phony cheques and money orders. How much will it cost the FG to set up a 24 hour call center with a toll free line, 4 employees ( 2 in customer service, 2 in forensic/finance)? Any individual in doubt of the legality of the business with which they have dealings, can pick up the telephone call, or email or probably chat live with a representative. As cheesy as this may sound, we (Nigeria) would have covered our back, legally. This idea will run a lot of the fraudulent schemes aground because individuals seeking approval from this call center will be asked to make a three-way call with their clients, shikena. Trust me it does not take 3 seconds for a Naija person to identify a scammer. This will also encourage legitimate businesses to be proactive and bold about their affiars.
Even if this scheme isn't a knock out success, the Government can look at any accuser(?) in the face and ask a simple question, "Why did you not call our center for clarification, before you jumped at the venture, pheewww (Obasanjo tone)"
We have to fight back, for real, we really ought to.
2Comment(s):
But will this work? The only reason people fall for these scams is lack of information, they have never heard of the scams, so they think it is genuine. If they don't know about the number, then there's no point. The Nigerian government, and the Internet 'fraternity' have done their best to inform everyone about '419', but still, people fall for it !!
The secondary objective, which is to show the world we are doing something about the fraudulent activities, will surely work. The FG can brag about putting a check in place. Each time one of these people fall victim and their countries get overzealous once again, we can promptly blame them for not educating themselves.