Nigerian scam nets Vegans

Karen Zekan

Tuesday, May 14, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Most people would be skeptical of a chance to make millions off the Nigerian government at an African prince's request.

Yet year after year, unsuspecting Americans with dollar signs in their eyes continue to blindly fall for the scam, many losing their life's savings and some even their lives, authorities say.

Because this elusive group of sophisticated Nigerian criminals remains at large, the U.S. Secret Service is issuing a warning to all Las Vegas residents and businesses to be wary.

"You would think that no reasonable, prudent individual would fall for something like this, but they do," said Craig Spraggins, Secret Service special agent. "There are victims and potential victims (in Las Vegas) ... and the driving forces behind the situation are greed and foolishness."

The scams target everyone from business owners to the elderly, and typically arrive via fax, on the Internet or in the mail.

One such money laundering letter that authorities believe could be circulating locally claims to be from a member of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. in Lagos who is looking for "a trustworthy company into whose account some funds" -- $35.5 million from allegedly over-invoicing customers -- can be transferred.

The deal: They keep 65 percent of the money, you get 30 percent and the remaining 5 percent is for any expenses incurred.

"All claim to be doctors, princes, chiefs, and they're basically offering ways to defraud the country of Nigeria," Spraggins said.

The return addresses on the letters usually are fake, and often the stamps and postmarks on the envelopes are, too.

The television news program "60 Minutes" aired a segment on Nigerian organized crime in December 1994 and again in June 1995, yet Spraggins says the scammers' handiwork can be traced back as far as the late 1980s.

"Until about a year and a half ago, we really hadn't paid much attention to it," he said. "It's not a crime that's violent by nature, and isn't the traditional drug trafficker's scheme, or the 'sexy' crimes people target. ... But in the past 12 months alone we've found 20,000 victims, and interdicted 3,000 victims in Lagos."

An American caught up in one of the Nigerian schemes was murdered last summer after traveling to West Africa in search of a promised $4.50 barrel of crude oil a crook said was available for 14 cents, Spraggins said.

"The problem we have is getting victims to admit they're victims," he said. "They don't want law enforcement to know that they have millions to play with or to be embarrassed for falling for such a scheme. But we don't care about that. The people we want are the fraudsters. "

Anyone who has received mailings, faxes or other materials within the past 60 days from suspected Nigerian scam artists is asked to send the items to the Secret Service, 1800 G St. NW, Room #942, Washington, D.C. 20223.

Agents are seeking only recently received materials in hopes of more quickly tracking down the ringleaders.

Any locals who have supplied the con artists with money are asked to contact the Secret Service's Las Vegas office at 600 Las Vegas Blvd. South at 388-6571.