In a number of jurisdictions, there have been a number of recent incidents whereby insurance entities have either been the victims of, or have inadvertently provided assistance to, advance fee frauds. Advance fee fraud consists of setting up a fraudulent and almost certainly non-existent financial or banking transaction, the aim of which is to defraud an innocent third party of an up front payment or deposit which is intended by the third party to be consideration for their involvement in that financial transaction, the receipt of a low interest or interest fee loan or the receipt of some other financial benefit. The types of transactions used as the façade for the frauds vary in detail, some of the most common are investment in financial instruments, self liquidating loans and loans or other financial benefits. Although these transactions are generally based around banking or securities transactions, it is occasionally the case that the transaction will purport to be guaranteed by insurers.