Chairman calls for end to mail fraud

Accra (Greater Accra) 9th June '99

Col Amadu Abdulai, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Ghana Postal Services (GPS), on Tuesday called for an immediate solution to the problem of increasing mail fraud in West Africa.

Col Abdulai was addressing participants at a two-day meeting organised by the GPS in collaboration with the Universal Postal Union (UPU) to find a solution to the menace that has assumed an alarming rate in the sub-region.

The meeting is being attended by 30 participants from Ghana, Nigeria, Burkina-Faso, Niger, Chad, Lesotho, and Tanzania.

Col Abdulai said the problem of mail fraud, which originated from Nigeria, has assumed very serious dimensions world-wide due to the sophistication of the fraud and it is engulfing the entire sub-region.

Latest information, he said, shows that the fraudsters have resorted to transferring their letters onto computer diskettes which are carried to Brazil, from where they are decoded, transcribed and transmitted in letter form.

The tricksters usually obtain information about the victims from catalogues of foreign companies.

Col Abdulai said the mail fraud known as the "419" letters are transmitted world-wide with the intention of deceiving recipients into believing that some contract work has been executed for the Nigerian government and a foreign account is needed to aid the transfer of the amounts involved.

The fraudsters then promise the unsuspecting recipients help once they make their account numbers available to them and a deal of huge percentages to be taken when they complete the mission.

Col Abdulai said the writers of these letters often purported to be high-ranking officers with social distinction, give themselves grandiose titles.

He said the UPU has been very impressed by Ghana's success in managing this menace, adding that in October last year, Ghana and the US signed a memorandum of understanding under which these fraudulent letters would be intercepted and destroyed by the US Administration.

He expressed the hope that a concrete solution to the problem would be achieved at the end of the meeting.

Mr E.L Darko, secretary of the board, said such fraudulent activities are depriving postal institutions of huge incomes due to the fake stamps used.

He said local and external measures are being taken to curb the problem.

Mr Darko said mail office and customer desk staff have been educated on the features and characteristics of these envelopes and stamps among other measures and officials of the GPS will attend frequent international seminars to upgrade their knowledge.