Although it may be hard to imagine that a financial scam in Nigeria could be connected to the shooting death of a Church of Christ minister in Tennessee, early reports indicate that may be what happened.
The Associated Press reported that Mary Winkler, who has been charged with the March shooting of her husband, Matthew, pastor of Fourth Street Church of Christ in Selmer, Tenn., and a graduate of Austin High School in Decatur, was entangled in a common Nigerian scheme called an advance-fee fraud (AFF).
Winkler was released on bond Aug. 15. She is currently awaiting trial. At press time, no trial date had been set.
The Nigerian scheme — also referred to as a 419 scheme for the section of the Nigerian law passed to address the crime — defrauded Americans of an estimated $720 million in 2005. The total is estimated at more than $3 billion worldwide for the same year.
The U.S. Department of Justice issued a 2005 report in which it estimated the average loss per victim of the Nigerian AFF schemes in the United States to be $5,000.
According to a U.S. Department of State report, the scam — which first surfaced during the 1980s — has many variations. The common thread is the offer of an opportunity to make large amounts of money with little or no effort, usually by acting as an intermediary for the international transfer of funds.
The target, which is a business or individual, is asked to make a bank account available for the transfer of funds. Later the victim may be asked to pay fees such as taxes, bribes for government officials or legal fees.Once a fee is paid, the scammers will come up with another “problem” that requires more money. According to the State Department, this can go on for months or even years until the victim realizes that no money is forthcoming.
The variation to which Mary Winkler allegedly fell victim was a sweepstakes scam. The scammer sends checks for what he or she describes as partial winnings. Before the checks are discovered as phony, the victim is required to send money for processing fees, the difference in exchange rates or other bogus charges via a cashier’s check, money order or Western Union.
Winkler allegedly deposited $17,500 of apparently worthless checks from Canada and Nigeria into her checking account prior to the shooting. Media coverage at the time of the pastor’s death reported that the couple had quarreled the night before. In a statement read at her bail hearing, she was quoted as saying, “I had gotten a call from the bank and we were having trouble, mostly my fault, bad bookkeeping. He was upset with me about that.”
Other deaths have been directly connected to the Nigerian schemes. At least 15 foreign businessmen, including one American, have been murdered in Nigeria as a result of the AFF schemes and many others have been held against their will, according to the State Department’s report. Some victims are lured to Nigeria or another country nearby and then are held in an attempt by the scammers to dupe them out of more money.
The Nigerian government has taken steps to end the schemes. According to the Nigerian Embassy in the United States, the scams have given a negative picture of Nigeria and have negatively impacted the attempts of the government to attract foreign investors.
To combat the problem, Nigeria has conducted an international publicity campaign warning potential victims of the scams, closed Internet cafes known to have been used by perpetrators and set up a commission to fight financial crimes.
Share with others: