Advanced Fee Fraud

An advance-fee fraud is a confidence trick in which the target is persuaded to advance sums of money in the hope of realizing a significantly larger gain.

Among the variations on this type of scam, are the Nigerian Letter (also called the 419 fraud, Nigerian scam, Nigerian bank scam, or Nigerian money offer), the Spanish Prisoner, the black money scam as well as Russian/Ukrainian scam (also extremely widespread, though far less popular than the former).

Although similar to older scams such as the Spanish Prisoner, the modern 419 scam originated in the early 1980s as the oil-based Nigerian economy declined.

Several unemployed university students first used this scam as a means of manipulating business visitors interested in shady deals in the Nigerian oil sector before targeting businessmen in the west, and later the wider population. Scammers in the early-to-mid 1990s targeted companies, sending scam messages via letter, fax, or Telex.

The spread of e-mail and easy access to e-mail-harvesting software significantly lowered the cost of sending scam letters by using the Internet. In the 2000s, the 419 scam has spurred imitations from other locations in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe, and, more recently, from North America, Western Europe (mainly UK), and Australia, the latter three mainly done by Africans.

The number "419" refers to the article of the Nigerian Criminal Code (part of Chapter 38: "Obtaining Property by false pretences; Cheating") dealing with fraud. The American Dialect Society has traced the term "419 fraud" back to 1992.


An Example...

As I was writing this article I actually received one of these emails!

It is a typical example of an email from somebody I do not know in the African continent asking for an advance payment and then promising a huge reward!!!

Here is the email in full:

FROM=MR ELUCHI ABIA
PLOT 12 SANUSI FAFUNWA
VICTORIA ISLAND
LAGOS


Dear Friend,

Please accept my sincere apologies if my mail fails to meet your professional and moral Ethics, as we have not met before. I know you may be sceptical about what i am about to tell you because of the evil doings of people of the world today, which has brought fear and made alot of people not to engage in genuine and legitimate business ventures, i urge you to take your time and read this email very well.

I am a Banker; my name is MR ELUCHI ABIA, an accountant. I am the accounts Manager to a late Engineer, a white foreigner whom I have financial dealings for a long time now. He was a contractor with the DEPARTMENT OF PETROLEUM RESOURCES VICTORIA ISLAND, LAGOS. On 10, Dec 2005, my customer/client, his wife, and his only son were involved in a SOSOLISO AIRLINE CRASH.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4517024.stm

My client and his family all died in that fatal air crash. Since then,I have made several attempts and enquiries to locate any of his extended Relatives, but this has Proved unsuccessful. After several unsuccessful attempts, I decided to trace a good and reliable Person over the Internet, that can help me in repatriating this fund left behind in our Bank since the bank i work for and where the funds is at present intend to declare the funds unservicable if nobody come for the money.

I am contacting you to assist me in repatriating this money left behind by my Customer/client before they get confiscated or declared unserviceable by the bank where these huge deposit was lodged, particularly this Bank that I am presently working, Where the deceased had an account Valued at TWENTY MILLION, FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS, The Bank has issued a notice to provide the next of kin or have the account confiscated within a short period of time.

Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives of my client,I now seek your consent to present you as the next of kin of the deceased so that the proceeds of this account valued at TWENTY MILLION, FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS (USD$20,500,000) will be transferred into your account and we will share the funds according to an agreed ratio.

I have arranged everything and you will not engage in anything that is illegal. I have made arrangements with a good Attorney to assist us. He will present himself to the Bank and notarize all the necessary legal documents that can be used to back up the inheritance claim.

All I require from you is your honest cooperation to enable us see this business through.
Please if you have the capacity to carry out this business, respond to this email immediately, and I will forward to you the full and detailed information of my myself to enable us commence business. immediately.

Expecting your Urgent response.

REGARDS
MR ELUCHI ABIA
 

Web-based E-mail

Because many free e-mail services do not require valid identifying information, and also allow communication with many victims in a short span of time, they are the preferred method of communication for scammers. Some services, go so far as to mask the sender's source IP address, making the scammer completely untraceable even to country of origin. Scammers can create as many accounts as they wish and often have several at a time.

In addition, if e-mail providers are alerted to the scammer's activities and suspend the account, it is a trivial matter for the scammer to simply create a new account to resume scamming.

Remember:

NEVER respond to emails like this... not matter how desperate you are for money - YOU WILL only become a victim and much poorer for it.

These are criminals - just delete the email.