The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Finland has received numerous inquiries from Finnish citizens regarding the legitimacy of certain solicitations they have received via normal mail or via e-mail. The solicitations promise large sums of money in return for the payment of certain advance fees, transaction fees, customs fees, etc.; some solicitations concern foreign lotteries. The solicitations name businesses allegedly registered in the Netherlands, or other European countries, as the source of the monetary or other transaction.

The Embassy would like to alert Finnish citizens that the solicitation is likely to be fraudulent and connected to a well-known financial crime, originating in West Africa in the 1980s. These financial crimes have become so widespread that they are known to national and international law enforcement authorities as 'Nigerian bank fraud', 'Advance Fee Fraud', 'Section 4-1-9 Fraud' etc. schemes. Foreign lottery fraud is distinct type of fraud, but the methods of operations are quite similar.

A few common traits of the 'Advance Fee Fraud' solicitation are:

• A sum of money (or product), of either legal or illegal origin, from lotteries, investment schemes, oil, bequest, real estate, business failure, etc., will be made available if the recipient pays certain fees associated with the release of the money (or product), in advance. 
• To initiate the transaction, the recipient must contact an official of the alleged business in the Netherlands (or in other European countries). 
• Contact with the "official" occurs via a cell phone; in the Netherlands, this can be identified by a phone number beginning with +31 6... 
• Attempts to verify the business address with online business directories or the local Chamber of Commerce fail.

If you are a Finnish citizen and suspect that you may be a target of one of these schemes, please view the information on advance fee fraud on the website of  www.nigerianembassy.nl (click on 'advance fee fraud').

If you suspect that you have been approached by someone involved in these practices, pay careful attention to the following advice:

• If an offer sounds to good to be true, it isn't true!
• Ignore such letters.
• Never provide personal information such as your name, address or bank account number. 
• Never pay in advance! 
• Do not accept invitations to travel to another country. Besides suffering financial loss, you may be attacked or kidnapped (with fatal consequences), as can be the case in Nigeria or South Africa; you may also risk arrest for involvement in illegal activities (under article 419 of the Nigerian Criminal Code). 
• Be careful with cheques. The risk that cheques offered by Nigerians are fake or falsified is very great. 
• Before doing business in West Africa, obtain information from banks, Chambers of Commerce, Dutch embassies, etc.
• Be aware that many false bank or security company websites are used to support fraudulent practices.

Information is also available on the website of the  United States Secret Service. If, after reading this information, you are still uncertain about the nature of the solicitation, please contact the Embassy on (09) 228 920 or e-mail to  hel@minbuza.nl.

If you have fallen victim to one of these scams, please contact a local branch of the Finnish Police in your area, which can subsequently raise the issue with the police authorities in the Netherlands.

Finally, if you are interested to find out how to 'spam the spammers', please have a look at the website  www.scamorama.com.

Other interesting websites include:

•  www.toezichtkansspelen.nl /   www.gamingboard.nl
•  www.scambusters.org 
•  www.sikkerhetstjeneste.com/scamletters.htm 
•  www.insolitology.com/usenet/scams.htm 
•  www.geocities.com/a_kerenx/index.html 
•  www.africaservice.com/fraud/index.html section "What is 419?" 
•  www.met.police.uk/fraudalert/index.htm

These references are provided as service only.