Não existe dinheiro fácil: conheça o clássico ”golpe Nigeriano”

SÃO PAULO – Não existe dinheiro fácil. Se você foi, recentemente, oferecido uma fortuna em troca de uma ajuda para um desconhecido, cuidado: esse pode ser o famoso “Golpe Nigeriano” – ou “Fraude 419”, que desde a década de 1920 vêm sendo feito em todo o mundo. E pode perder uma bela quantia de dinheiro se deixar sua ganância lhe controlar. 

A versão moderna do golpe consiste no envio de e-mails falsos que prometem uma recompensa, a ser ganha por meio de uma “parceria de negócios”. Os motivos são milhões: a morte de um parente distante do destinatário, um investimento e, o principal, ajudar o remetente a tirar do país uma quantia milionária de dinheiro, congelada devido a um problema de ordem legal ou para evitar tributação.

O mais comum é que o e-mail seja enviado por uma pessoa que supostamente vive em algum país africano, mas pode vir de qualquer país. A maioria dos golpes é muito mal pensada, mas há versões mais sofisticadas, que envolvem mais pessoas, documentos falsos e uma infinidade de maneiras para lhe enganar. 

Caso a pessoa caia no golpe, é requisitado que ela envie diversas quantias de dinheiro que serviriam para liberar papéis e transações – quantias que podem chegar a milhares de dólares. É um processo que não tem fim, pois sempre aparece um novo problema que requer mais dinheiro, até que a pessoa perceba que não existe nenhuma fortuna e que o dinheiro enviado está perdido.

Os golpistas terão acesso a dados da conta bancária, telefone, endereço e documentos da vítima, tal como de sua empresa. As abordagens podem ser diversas, como enviar um e-mail dizendo que a vítima ganhou um prêmio de loteria que pede certa quantia para liberar o prêmio. Há casos, inclusive, de mulheres que namoravam homens do exterior e enviavam dinheiro para eles já aconteceram.

Para prevenir-se, é simples: nunca confie em e-mails suspeitos, de remetentes desconhecidos e que tratem de assunto semelhante; as mensagens geralmente apresentam muitos erros de gramática e concordância e ressaltam que é uma transação urgente, pedindo resposta rápida, e deve ser mantida em sigilo acima de tudo.

Leia, na íntegra e em inglês, exemplos de e-mails enviados disponibilizados pelo site Snopes:

“Dear Sir,

REQUEST FOR URGENT BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP.

Firstly I must solicit your strictest confidence in this subject. This is by virtue of its nature as being utterly confidential and top secret. A member of the Nigeria Export Promotion Council (N.E.P.C.) who was part of the federal government delegation to your country during a trade exhibition gave your particulars to me. I have decided to seek a confidential operation with you in the execution of the deal described hereunder for the benefit of all the parties and hope that you keep it top secret because of the nature of the business.

Within the ministry of petroleum resources where I work as a director of engineering and projects, and with the co-operation of four other very top officials, we have under our control as overdue contract payments, bills totaling Thirty One Million United States Dollars, which we want to transfer to a foreign account, with the assistance and co-operation of a foreign company to receive the said funds on our behalf or a reliable foreign individual account to receive the funds.

The source of the fund is as follows: during the last military government here in Nigeria which lasted bout eleven months, government officials set up companies and awarded themselves various contracts which were grossly over-invoiced in various ministries. The present civilian government is not aware of the atrocities committed by their predecessors and as a result, we have a lot of such over invoiced contract payment s pending which we have identified floating at the central bank of Nigeria ready for payment. However by virtue of our position as civil servants, we cannot acquire this money in our names. I was therefore delegated as a matter of urgency by my colleagues to look for an over seas partner into whose account we would transfer the sum of US$31,000,000.00 (THIRTY ONE MILLION UNITED STATES DOLLARS) hence we are writing you this letter.

Since the present civilian government is determined to pay foreign contractors l debts owed so as to maintain an amiable relationship with foreign governments and non-government financial agencies. We have decided to include our bills for approval with the co-operation of some officials of the federal ministry of finance (F.M.F) and the central bank of Nigeria (C.B.N). We are seeking your assistance in providing us with a good company account or any other offshore bank account into which we can remit this money by acting our main partner and trustee or acting as the original contractor. This we can do by swapping of account information and changing of beneficiary and other pertinent information to apply for payment. By this act, we would be using your company information to apply for payment, and prepare letters of claim and job description on behalf of your company. This process would be an internal arrangement with the departments concerned.

I have the authority of my partners involved to propose that should you be willing to assist us in this transaction, your share as compensation will be us$6.2 million (20%), us$21.7 million (70%) for us and us$3.1 (10%) for taxation and miscellaneous expenses.

The business itself is 100% safe, provided you treat it with utmost secrecy and confidentiality. Also your area of specialization is not m hindrance to the successful execution of this transaction. I have reposed my confidence in you and hope that you will not disappoint me. You may Fax your response to my home fax: 234 1 7596174 to indicate your willingness in assisting us. I will bring the complete picture of the transaction to your knowledge when I have heard from you.

Thanks for your co-operation,

Yours faithfully,

Dr Oyibo.”

Outro exemplo:

“Dear Sir, I know my message will come to you as a surprise. I wish to write you this letter of assistance believing that you will not betray the trust I’m to impose on you.

By brief introduction, I am Sandra Mani the wife of Hanis Mani Mani former chief of defense-staff of (Republic of Guinea Bissau).

I got your contact from a business magnet who told me to fill free to do any business with you that you are truthful and trustworthy and also your capability of handling this business. He made me to surmise totally that you must be such an erudite businessman full of ingenuity and human resources management.

My late husband was killed just last year December following his role as a rebel leader against the past government of guinea Bissau.

Following this political crisis, I was forced to live our country to Abidjan the capital city of Cote d’Ivoire for my dear life.

It is here in Abidjan he deposited ONE METALLIC TRUNK BOX in a Security Company. He registered it as an African Artworks as belonging to his foreign business partner who will come with the keys for the claim of the consignment. He did not disclose to the Security Company the real content of the box.

The box contain US$ 18,000.000.00 (Eighteen Million United States Dollars ). To be honest with you, this is the only legacy left for me by my husband which Iam with the certificate of deposit and other necessary documents regarding this deposit.

I want to front you as the bonafide beneficiary of the consignment and claim the consignment for onward transfer of the Fund to your Bank Account abroad for onward investment in your Country. I have decided to offer you 5% of the total sum and 2% for other mecellaneous expenses you may incur on the cause of this transaction. On the notice of your willingness to assist me, I will tell you the modalities we shall follow to ensure a smooth hitch-free transaction.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Best regards.

Sandra Mani

NB: please do call me as soon as you receive this message for more briefing and also I want to invest in your country.”

E mais um: 

DEPARTMENT OF PETROLEUM RESOURCES

PLOT 225 KOFO ABAYOMI STREET VICTORIA ISLAND, LAGOS, NIGERIA.

TEL: 234 1 7591519 FAX: 234 1 7590904.

ATTENTION: OWNER/C.E.O

RE: URGENT & CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS PROPOSAL

Dear Sir,

I am John elKurata.Member contract award committee of the above department. Terms of Reference

My term of reference involves the award of contracts to multinational companies.

My office is saddled with the responsibility of contract award, screening, categorization and prioritization of projects embarked upon by Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) as well as feasibility studies for selected projects and supervising the project consultants involved. A breakdown of the fiscal expenditure by this office as at the end of the last fiscal quarter of 1999 indicates that DPR paid out a whooping sum of US$736M(Seven Hundred And Thirty Six Million, United States Dollars) to successful contract beneficiaries. The DPR is now compiling beneficiaries to be paid for the first Quarter of 2002.

The crux of this letter is that the finance/contract department of the DPR deliberately over -invoiced the contract value of the various contracts awarded. In the course of disbursements, this department has been able to accumulate the sum of US$38.2M(Thirty Eight Million, two hundred Thousand U.S Dollars) as the over-invoiced sum. This money is currently in a suspense account of the DPR account with the Debt Reconciliation Committee (DRC). We now seek to process the transfer this fund officially as contract payment to you as a foreign contractor, who will be fronting for us as the beneficiary of the fund. In this way we can facilitate these funds into your nominated account for possible investment abroad. We are not allowed as a matter of government policy to operate any foreign account to transfer this fund into.

However, for your involvement in assisting us with this transfer into your nominated account we have evolved a sharing formula as follows:

(1) 20% for you as the foreign partner

(2) 75% for I and my colleagues

(3) 5% will set aside to defray all incidental expenses both Locally and Internationally during the course of this transaction.

We shall be relying on your advice as regard investment of our share in any business in your country. Be informed that this business is genuine and 100% safe considering the high-power government officials involved. Send your private fax/telephone numbers. Upon your response we shall provide you with further information on the procedures. Feel free to call the undersign on Tel: 234 1 7591519 or send response by Fax: 234-1-7590904 expecting your response immediately.

Looking forward to a good business relationship with you. 

Sincerely,

Mr.John elKurata