Understanding victims' behaviors so we can help them

Fraud Basics: Fundamentals for all

Anyone with an email address probably has received a notice of winning a lottery they don't recall entering, a too-good-to-be true business opportunity or the familiar Nigerian prince who's in desperate need of your help to move millions of dollars to safety. Interestingly, no one ever seems to ask why a Nigerian would be using U.S. dollars, but in all cases, of course, the deal is too good to be true and requires a victim's advance fee and bank account details. I gained insight into these frauds over the past couple of years while I was working in West Africa for the FBI. I saw host governments either take steps to stop these crimes or completely ignore the issue.

One country decided to seize the physical snail mail sent from West Africa to the U.S. I had access to the mail to determine if U.S. citizens had committed crimes. By the time the scammers sent the physical mail, I learned that U.S. victims probably had already sent money.

The scammers are playing the odds of numbers — plain and simple. For example, suppose fraudsters send 1,000 email messages, and then 10 or 20 people respond. Of those, one or two are willing to engage in a conversation with a potential business partner, lover or political rival to the present despotic regime.

These fraudsters operate organized structures and have co-conspirators in the U.S. and other countries. Some of these criminals can write creative letters in perfect English. Others copy Internet photos and include printed copies in victims' letters. Of course, by the time it gets to that point, requests for money typically accompany the photos.

As I worked on these cases — often stopping people from undertaking travel to meet the "love of their life" — I began to see patterns emerge. Investigators and fraud prevention personnel with whom I worked asked lots of questions, but ultimately it came down to "Who are these people that become victims?"

We have to answer this question if we're going to find solutions. I kept informal tabs on who the victims were, and I offer this column to you so that if you should see these patterns emerge you might be able to prevent these frauds.

Victims come from all walks of life, but their motives are few when they choose to engage with people they've never met and send money to them. I've concluded that there are really only four types of people who get scammed:

1. The truly exceptional

This seems counterintuitive. Why in the world would an exceptional person get scammed? They're likely already wealthy. They may be captains of industry (or at least lieutenants). They may be physicians, attorneys or people of high rank and station in life. They don't see the world in the same way you do. You see risk, they see opportunity. They can be hard to talk out of sending money, even if they already haven't seen any returns on money they previously sent.

These people have made their lives and livings by seeing opportunities that the rest of us simply can't see or would consider too risky. They believe their own counsel is the wisest. Therefore, the truly exceptional dismiss those who try to discourage them from participating in schemes. Truly exceptional people believe they know better, and in most cases, they are completely correct. Yet, African criminal enterprises will match and probably beat anyone!

2. Those who think they're truly exceptional

These people believe they're truly exceptional despite often overwhelming evidence to the contrary. They're greedy and looking for get-rich-quick schemes. Fraud examiners can find it difficult, if not impossible, to convince a would-be victim that sending his or her welfare money to someone they've never met is a bad financial plan. Those in this category aren't always particularly sympathetic victims, and can be the most difficult with which to work. They might conceal salient facts in the expectations that they'll still receive some sort of payment from the fraud.

A subset of this group are the "reverse scammers" who know that the schemes are frauds, but they're still trying to get money from the fraudsters because they think they'll be unwilling or unable to come after their lost cash. Sometimes, those in this group inject an element of racism or superiority over the scammers.

Regardless, they normally lose money and time to the scammers.

These victims might know that they're probably breaking local laws. Therefore, they might be somewhat difficult to work with. It's unlikely that they'll get any of their money back even with the full cooperation of foreign governments.

3. The truly lonely

They're seeking companionship following failed marriages or other broken relationships. These romance scam victims [see Global Fraud Focus on page 20. — ed] overwhelmingly are men. Typically more than 50 years old, they're deep into midlife crises and will express their love for their fiancés whom they've never met.

The fraudsters will send the truly lonely physical evidence — such as a canceled postmarked letter with a U.S. ZIP code — which shows that their romantic interest is a U.S. citizen and has been in the states recently. However, often a U.S.-based co-conspirator of an offshore scammer sends hundreds of the same letter to potential victims in the U.S. The letter tells a story of how the romantic interest is headed to a developing nation to do charitable or mission work; he or she provides an overseas address for contact. Victims send money to their "intended" to assist them in their new jobs and satisfy their need for companionship.

A subset of the truly lonely is the truly sexually excited. The men in this subset won't frequent prostitutes, yet they'll send money to supposed lovers so they can travel to the U.S. Of course, the truly sexually excited can be some of the most difficult (and distasteful) victims. However, they'll often travel overseas to meet their romantic interests where scammers might kidnap them and coerce them into shelling out cash.

4. The truly charitable

These people, the most sympathetic of the victims, sincerely believe they're doing good in the world. Scammers will use religious titles to deceive their victims into believing that the money they send will be used for charitable or mission work.

In some cases, the scammers will send to each of the victims a stack of envelopes printed with the name of an orphanage, hospital, church or other needy-sounding entity to lend legitimacy. The victims, who often are elderly, will distribute the envelopes to church members and friends who fill them with cash and send them overseas.

Duty to safeguard

As fraud examiners, we're sworn to protect all of these victims. Hopefully, my experiences can help you understand the behaviors of the most vulnerable. During my two years of searching through hundreds of pounds of mail and then contacting victims, none of them were angry that I'd interfered with their personal lives or possibly messed up budding romantic relationships. Most will thank you for helping them avert financial disasters.

Daniel G. Dudzinski, Ph.D., is a supervisory special agent in the Los Angeles Division of the FBI. The opinions in this article are his and don't necessarily represent those of the FBI.

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