African
Criminal Enterprises
African criminal enterprises have developed quickly since the 1980s
due to the globalization of the world's economies and the great advances
in communications technology. Easier international travel, expanded
world trade, and financial transactions that cross national borders
have enabled them to branch out of local and regional crime to target
international victims and develop criminal networks within more prosperous
countries and regions.
The political, social, and economic conditions in African countries
like Nigeria, Ghana, and Liberia also have helped some enterprises
expand globally.
African criminal enterprises have been identified in several major
metropolitan areas in the U.S., but are most prevalent in Atlanta,
Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Milwaukee, Newark, New York,
and Washington,
D.C.
Nigerian criminal enterprises are the most significant of these
groups and operate in more than 80 other countries of the world.
They are among the most aggressive and expansionist international
criminal groups and are primarily engaged in drug trafficking and
financial frauds.
The most profitable activity of the Nigerian groups is drug trafficking:
delivering heroin from Southeast and Southwest Asian into Europe
and the U.S. and cocaine from South America into Europe and South
Africa. Large populations of ethnic Nigerians in India, Pakistan,
and Thailand have given these enterprises direct access to 90 percent
of the world’s heroin production. The associated money laundering
has helped establish Nigerian criminal enterprises on every populated
continent of the world.
Nigerian groups are famous globally for their financial frauds,
which cost the U.S. alone an estimated $1 billion to $2 billion each
year. Schemes are diverse, targeting individuals, businesses, and
government offices.
Here’s just a partial list of their fraudulent activities:
insurance fraud involving auto accidents; healthcare billing scams;
life insurance schemes; bank, check, and credit card fraud; advance-fee
schemes known as 4-1-9 letters; and document fraud to develop false
identities. The advent of the Internet and e-mail have made their
crimes more profitable and prevalent.
How We Combat African Criminal Enterprises
The FBI participates in two initiatives to bolster efforts to combat African
criminal enterprises:
- The Department of Justice Nigerian Crime Initiative coordinates
the federal investigations of Nigerian criminal enterprises by
using joint task forces in six major U.S. cities.
- The Interpol West African Fraud annual conference brings
together law enforcement agents from around the world to discuss
and share information about the financial frauds perpetuated by
criminal enterprises whose members are predominantly West African,
and specifically Nigerian Criminal Enterprises.
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