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The purpose of this paper is to discuss the trends and issues involved in advance fee fraud in the Caribbean.

The paper offers a definition of advance fee fraud, describing its practice in the context of the Caribbean. The paper outlines the current state of the law in the region, the need for action and the legislative and enforcement strategies required.

International and regional efforts have been geared towards drug trafficking and money laundering and, in more recent times, terrorism. The time is now ripe for these international and regional efforts to add to their focus advance fee fraud in all its versions and variations. The need to take proactive and decisive measures against advance fee fraud is even more evident in the context of the growth in the use of technology in commerce due to the obvious economic advantage. Advance fee fraud is not just a trick or reward for greed, it is an economic crime and there must be a drastic response from the region. The region should not be complacent towards the fraud in light of far reaching negative effect that the fraud is likely to have in the region.

The paper adds insight into the practice of advance fee fraud in the Caribbean and the need for action to combat it.

Advance fee fraud on the internet is a current epidemic that rakes in hundreds of millions of dollars per year. The advent of the internet and proliferation of its use in the 1990s makes it an attractive medium for communicating the fraud, enabling a worldwide reach. This paper aims to explain how advance fee fraud operates, to examine various cases of recent advance fee‐fraud e‐mails, and to identify methods employed to manipulate victims into compliance based on theory in human behaviour and persuasion.

This study uses six cases of advance fee fraud received via e‐mail by the author between August 2006 and January 2007. The content of these e‐mails was analysed in detail to identify the methods employed to manipulate the behaviour of victims.

Interpretive findings suggest that advance fee fraudsters employ specific methods that exploit the bounded rationality and automatic behaviour of victims. Methods include assertion of authority and expert power, mimicking and referencing persons/organisations, providing partial proof/legitimacy, reasoning, reciprocation, creating urgency, and implying scarcity.

While there is readily available information on advance fee fraud on the internet, especially in the web sites of anti‐fraud organisations, this study suggests a need to inform internet users of the methods employed by advance fee fraudsters.

Considering the current and widespread problem of advance fee‐fraud e‐mails, the information of this paper is important for internet users to improve their capability in identifying fraudulent schemes and avoiding them.

Though many articles have been produced warning people of the inherent dangers of responding to this fraud, very little work has been done on the impact of the advance fee fraud on investment and overall economic development of countries in sub‐Saharan Africa. This paper aims to examine the nature and causes of the Nigerian “419” fraud.

Besides, underscoring the role of the political and historical situation of the sub‐region in exacerbating the fraud, the paper situates the discussion within the broader context of organized crimes perpetuated by Africans in Africa or elsewhere in the world.

A relationship exists between crime rate and development and thus there is a need for transnational collaborative efforts in controlling and preventing these crimes. However, the gap between the economic fundamentals and investor confidence is puzzling.

The paper examines the link between perception of crime in Nigeria and Africa as a whole and the rate of investment flow to the continent.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the general direction and pattern of modern economic and financial crimes statutes in Nigeria.

This paper examines Nigerian economic and financial crime statues.

This paper identifies the trend and features, which are common to all the statutes irrespective of economic and financial crime covered by them.

This paper shows that although Nigerian economic and financial crimes statutes have evolved gradually from Military era Decrees, and target different aspects of economic and financial crimes, there are certain features, which are common to all of them.

This paper aims to present some intake on advance fee frauds. Frauds of which frequency of occurrence, despite being long present and people are globally aware of them, still present great danger. Several quantitative and qualitative analyses were done in order to find out how and why these messages actually work.

The paper is based on a literature review, quantitative analysis (using SPSS) and qualitative analysis (using MAXQDA). Databases ware composed from messages accumulated in two periods, 1998‐2005 (547 messages) and Jan‐Sept 2012 (59 messages).

Advance fee frauds are not declining in occurrence. They are constantly developing and use both bulk sending and narrower targeting. The latter present more dangers as the messages are more adapted to the interest of the message receiver. There also seems to be a severe resemblance and connection to other types of fraud, especially cybernetic frauds (like pilfering, phishing, or e‐mail spoofing). These types of frauds are global and no country is immune, nor can any country be excluded, from hosting the perpetrators.

Though the authors' quantitative research database was big enough, there are some minor problems connected with it. Part of a database is a product of Slovenian police, which intended to analyze the content of messages, therefore because of police confidentiality issues, the database lacks some traceability. One would maybe argue that the methodology used by the police is not always the same as scientific usage of research methods, but in this case the database possesses all other necessary empirical attributes. The second database was composed from messages received by the authors, therefore they cannot say that it's totally globally representative.

Though there are several qualitative and quantitative studies of advance fee messages done almost daily, only a limited number are done in academic settings. However, some academic studies would benefit from non‐academic and vice versa. So the authors present some input to both kinds of studies.

Negotiable instruments by means of which large sums of money are transferred between banks have long been a source of fascination to the more sophisticated fraudsman. Careful study of the instruments and their conventional usage, combined with the exercise of imagination and knowledge of psychology have produced an innovative and audacious strain of fraud which continues to develop, and which has been dramatically successful.

Advance fee is a phrase — adopted over the years — which has been applied to a variety of offences, generally involving fraudulent activity in relation to financing of large‐scale projects, investments, or huge currency transactions and, however well disguised or described, involves the payment of monies in advance of any agreed course of action by the alleged financier or investor, ie the con‐man.

The purpose of this study is to examine and provide additional insights into Nigerian 419 scams. Such scams may also be referred to as advance fee frauds. This study not only provides a historical perspective as to why these scams continue to remain popular and successful but also addresses cultural issues and technological issues associated with this type of fraud.

The analysis is primarily conceptual, focusing on the historical underpinnings of 419 scams as well as changes that have occurred as a result of technological advancements. Further, an active Nigerian scammer agreed to be interviewed by one of the authors and the information has been incorporated into this paper.

Fraudsters in Nigeria use a more “scientific” approach to identifying victims. The Government of Nigeria has been implementing some new policies and techniques to identify these fraudsters as well as to attempt to curtail such fraudulent activities. Unfortunately, these attempts have had limited success and more will be needed to slow down 419 scammers. The total elimination of such scams is unlikely.

Although many 419 scams have been reported in the news, actual studies in this area are quite limited. Further, current research has not produced comprehensive papers that focus on why these frauds ever started, how they have developed over time and how technology has impacted such frauds. This paper is among the first to include “inside” information from an actual Nigerian scammer and thus adds significant value to the existing literature.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of the culpable insider and the predatory criminal in fraud and deception.

Two groupings of fraud are considered in this paper. Insider fraud consists of a person within an organization misusing their position for corrupt self-dealing, asset misappropriation and financial statement fraud. Case studies are discussed, offering differing perspectives on the role of insiders. Fraudsters use technology, like malware, to take on the mantle of an insider to facilitate their larceny. This paper also looks at the role of the insider with predatory frauds.

Most enterprises, be they public entities or private firms, are at risk of internal fraud. Internal financial controls are the first line of defence. In tougher economic times, when enterprises run on the tightest of margins, control mechanisms are at risk of being weakened at the altar of efficiency. Firms can also adopt cultures that deter frauds, either through policies on whistle-blowers or through simple employee screening procedures. For predatory frauds, the basic warning flag can be summed up with the cliché: if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.

This paper synthesizes research on fraud and the role that an insider can play as well as the role of a predatory fraudster.