Full text of Federal Reserve Bank of New York Circulars : 10597. Fraudulent Schemes Involving Persons Claiming to Represent Nigerian Entities

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FEDERAL RESERVE BANK
OF NEW YORK
Circular No. 10597
December 1, 1992

FRAUDULENT SCHEMES INVOLVING PERSONS CLAIMING
TO REPRESENT NIGERIAN ENTITIES

To All Depository Institutions in the Second
Federal Reserve District, and Others Concerned:

Recently, a num ber of banking institutions around th e country have rep o rted
th e existence of various schem es designed to entice th eir co rp o ra te custom ers to
divulge confidential bank account inform ation to persons claim ing to be re p re ­
sentatives of N igerian com panies or N igerian governm ent m inistries.
T hese individuals presen t the corporation with a proposal th at will result in
a deposit of several million dollars into its bank account for th e N igerian entity. In
return, th e corporation is to receive a com m ission o f 3 5 -4 0 % of th e to tal am ount
tran sferred . T he corporation is requested to provide th e "Nigerian representative"
with specific bank account inform ation, blank com pany letterh ead , and invoices. The
in ten t of this schem e is to entice the corporation, o r its em ployees, to disclose
confidential inform ation in w hat appears to be a no-risk arra n g em en t to obtain a
com m ission o f several m illion dollars. In reality, it a p p ears to be a schem e to
provide th e p e rp e tra to rs w ith confidential inform ation and m ate ria l to defraud the
com pany or its bank.
Y ou may w ant to alert your custom ers to this schem e and rem ind them of
th e ir responsibility to follow sound security p rocedures in th e ir treasu ry operations.
Q uestions regarding this m a tte r may be directed to A ndrew H eikaus, M anager,
F unds T ran sfer D e p artm en t (Tel. No. 2 1 2 -7 20 -55 61).
E. G e r a l d C o r r ig a n ,

President.