Frequently Asked Questions

What is 419 Nigerian scam?

The Nigerian 419 scam is named after the 4-1-9 penal code, the 419 scam is an ‘advance fee’ scam. The annual loss associated with the 419 Nigerian scams exceeds US $200 million per annum around the world. This is as per the statistics released by the FBI. Losses in South Africa alone are estimated to exceed R100 million per annum. The most common forms of these counterfeit business proposals fall into following categories: purchase of goods, conversion of real estate, transfer of funds from over invoiced contracts, sale of crude oil at below market price, payment of money from wills and contact fraud. The most common and successful cases of Advance Fee Fraud are the fund transfer scam. The chances of arresting the fraudsters are slight in most countries, since they are making use of false details to con victims, so aware of these fraudsters.

How the spam works?

If you receive a spam mail you may feel that it’s not dangerous to respond with a bank account that’s empty. But the problem starts here. In general a con artist builds confidence and learns all your details including your personal information and targets a businessman with credit. After gaining their trust he asks you to mail him notarized blank invoices and letterheads which you think it’s harmless and fraudster will tell you its for helping you launder the money.

The con artist takes the blank letterhead and writes a letter to a bank authorizing it to utilize for a loan. Then they take the blank invoice and make it emerge that a large corporation owes you a lot of money to help boost your money. The con artist makes a forged corporation so the bank can give him a loan. The con artist invents another problem and asks for more invoices, letterheads and bribery money. This process continues using different international banks and continues till the victims get tired of paying bribe money and sending documents and demands payment.

Sometimes victims have to travel to Nigeria with loads of cash to finalize deal. Bribe the hotel workers where you will meet so you can lure the victim away and burglarize the room for the cash and then you are in the situation to pretend the deal fell because you don’t have money. You go home empty handed thinking it was because of a random theft. The scammers’ fake corporation defaults on the loans and disappears.

The banks get audited after some months and they start looking for you and they questions you. The authorities pressure you with bank fraud since your fingerprints are on the documents serves as a strong witness. Finally you come to know the truth. The banks get investigated and anyone not following guidelines is indicted. If you are a tainted bank CEO you move to Nigeria to escape indictment and to be close to the Nigerian Government so you can cry on their shoulder. You launder the stolen money into real corporations so you can skim it afterward.

How the fraudsters are making money by sending 419 letters?

If the victims show curiosity in dealing with the fraudsters, such a victim would soon receive a notice that he/she has to pay a certain amount of money so as to clear the funds to his/her account. Thus they make money from these fees. Once a victim pays the fees, the fraudsters will keep on asking for more money to be paid by the victim, until the victim is unable to pay any more money.

Why did I receive spam email?

For the purpose of making money spammers send spam.419 scammers send spam to defraud the people. To make as much money as possible, they hit as many email addresses as possible. If you are not using effective spam filter and your email address can be found on a website you may receive such e-mails. Once your address has become public knowledge, it's unfeasible to put the cat back into the bag.

How the fraudsters are getting e-mail address?

Fraudsters have many ways of getting your e-mail addresses. Firstly they make use of special software to extract e-mail addresses from websites. Special software is often made to extract e-mail addresses from accounts such as Yahoo, and other email providers etc. If your email address is published anywhere on the Internet it is possible for a scammer to 'harvest' it. Once a fraudster obtains a list of e-mail addresses, this list is circulated among the other fraudsters.

What for the fraudsters need our personal details or identification cards?

The fraudsters ask your personal details to facilitate them to falsify certain documents in order to influence the victim that she/he will receive the millions of dollars involved in the scam. Where a victim has to meet the fraudsters this information will be sent to the accomplice who will meet the victim.

Will my personal information be used for any other purposes?

If the fraudsters have personal information of victims they can use it for other purposes such as opening false accounts, etc, although this happens rarely. Fraudsters generally use the details to falsify documents to convince victims and make them believe that they will receive the money.

Will fraudsters come after my family or me?

This is unheard of. But there may be chance of doing so; generally they are too busy looking for new victims to go chasing unwilling victims who show no attention in paying their 'fees'.

Will the fraudsters stop mailing?

Probably it won’t stop. Once a fraudster has your e-mail address, the information will be shared with other fraudsters. You will keep receiving this type of mail. At the same time your mail remains published on the Internet it is available to more and more.

How 419 letters are distributed other than by email?

Nigerian 419 letters are occasionally posted and faxed to victims even though this form of contact is infrequently used these days.

Is there a possibility I will recover any money from the fraudsters?

Highly implausible or the chance is very small. Less than a day after parting with your money, these fraudsters have already shared it with their accomplices. The chance of recuperating any losses is almost 0%.