Request for Customer's Money to Uganda

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Question:

We received a letter in the mail today from Uganda requesting money on one of our customer. The sender had our customer's account number and was addressed to "The Customer Service Manager" along with our full bank address. What steps do I take with this? I'm just not sure who to contact.

Answer:

This looks like stage 2 or 3 from a typical advance fee fraud. Your customer probably received an email or a letter from Mr. X, who might be from Uganda or any other west African country (and the typical story of the 419 Nigerian scam). Your customer provided Mr. X with his name, account number, bank name and contact information upon Mr. X's request.

The typical fraud case would involve the con man to start asking for several advance fee payments for very plausible, good reasons that would convince your customer or any other unsuspecting victim.

But in this case (mentioned in the question) I assume Mr. X shifted his style and sent your bank a direct request to transfer the money to Uganda so as to clean out your customer's account! What should you do?

First of all you should answer these questions:

Does your customer know about this? If not, did you alert him/her already?
What kind of business does your customer do? Does his business banking activity involve wiring money outside the USA? (If he is in an import business, for example)
Has he ever wired money outside the USA (not to mention to Africa)?
If yes, what amounts? Similar to those requested by Mr. X?
Is Mr. X requesting a transfer of full balance or did he indicate a certain amount?
Does your customer's name in the letter match his name in your files?
Has your customer's account contained only normal transactions lately?
How old is your customer? Is he an elderly person? A single lady?

Your "To Do" List:

Don’t transfer any money. Flag the account with a temporary stop payment.
Call your customer, bring him to your branch and (without interrogating him) collect as much detailed information as possible regarding this transfer and Mr. X.
Check with other branches of your bank to find out if similar letters have been arriving lately.
Keep your security/risk management personnel updated on this situation and always consult your legal dept. on every action you take.
Depending upon the customer's answers, you should decide whether to call & inform your local USSS office.

First published on BankersOnline.com 12/1/03