September
13, 2007 -- A Nigerian refugee who had been living
in Toronto is in custody after Winnipeg police made a landmark
arrest in connection with a West African e-mail scam.
It is the first time
a Canadian police agency outside of Toronto has made such
an arrest, but it came after an 84-year-old Winnipeg man
was bilked out of more than $30,000.
"It's very big for
us. The last one in Toronto was a number of years ago,"
said Det. Gerri Forscutt, a member of the commercial crime
unit which investigated the scam.
Most people have
received e-mails that pitch far-fetched scenarios and offer
outrageous sums of money, but these types of fraud cases
are tough to solve because scammers use a variety of untraceable
means -- web-based e-mail accounts, wire transfers and pay-as-you-go
cellphones, for example. Arrests are extremely rare.
But in this case
the suspect came to police. He told the victim he was coming
to Winnipeg to pick up more money, so the victim, who by
that point had realized he had been duped, alerted cops.
BRAZEN
The suspect was arrested
last Friday when he arrived at the senior's home, said police
spokeswoman Const. Jacqueline Chaput.
"Because he was brazen
enough to come to Winnipeg, we were able to arrest him.
He also had the nerve to request a refund (from the victim)
for his airfare," Chaput said.
Toluwalade Alonge
Owolabi, 36, of Toronto is in custody at Winnipeg Remand
Centre.
He is charged with fraud over $5,000,
fraud under $5,000, and five other offences.
Police believe Owolabi,
who has been in Canada for a year, was working for a large
criminal organization based in Africa. The senior wired
the $30,000 to a bank account in the African country of
Ghana, but officials there will not co-operate with police,
Forscutt said.
He will likely never
recover the money.
Chaput said the scam
began when the senior replied to an unsolicited e-mail that
promised a share of a $1.5 million inheritance that, unknown
to him, does not exist.
The man was told
to wire an up-front fee of $37,500 to receive the supposed
windfall. He wired $30,000 and was pressured to send more.
"A promise of $1.5
million, you should be questioning where it is coming from,"
Chaput said. "If it sounds too good to be true, it generally
is."
This type of scam
is also known as advanced fee letter fraud, or Nigerian
e-mail or 419 scams. It may be hard to believe, but many
people fall victim to them each year.
So far, Canadians
have reported more than $6 million in losses in 2007 to
PhoneBusters, the federal anti-fraud agency, said Const.
Phil Carver of Manitoba RCMP's commercial crime unit.
That figure could
be higher because some victims do not bother to report to
police. Authorities do not know where the money ends up
and worry it could be used for drugs, weapons or terrorism.
Computer security
consultant Alan Davison of HUB Computer Solutions urges
people to install software that blocks spam, or delete the
e-mails once they arrive in their inbox.
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FOILING SCAM ARTISTS
Some facts and safety
tips regarding West African and other e-mail scams:
- Use some common
sense and do not respond to an e-mail, fax or phone call
that seems too good to be true.
- Legitimate winnings
do not require you to pay money up front. Once money is
wired to someone, it cannot be retrieved. Arrests are rare.
- Install approved
software on your computer to block spam.
- To identify a potential
scam, go to www.phonebusters.com
- Copies of e-mails
can be forwarded to Phone Busters via fax at 1-888-654-9426
or email at wafl@phonebusters.com. Call 1-888-495-8501 if
you have made contact with a person involved in a scheme.
- Winnipeggers who
have lost money in a scam are asked to contact the police
non-emergency line at 986-6222. People in rural Manitoba
should contact their nearest RCMP detachment.
