The 419 scam is a kind of fraud where a person receives an unsolicited communication (usually email, but often fax or letter) from a person concerning a (usually) Nigerian (or other third-world) business opportunity. The name derives from the pertinent section (419) of the Nigerian Criminal Code that criminalizes this plan. This scam is also called as the “Advance Fee Fraud”,”419 Fraud”,” Nigerian scam” and “The Nigerian Connection”.

Many people around the world are receiving Nigerian letters and are becoming the victims of spam. So it is essential to make general public aware of the problem so that do not become victims of a possible scam.

How to Identify Email scam:

The letter or email is marked “urgent”,” top secret” or “confidential and stress you to act immediately.
The confidential nature of the transaction is stressed.
A promise to share or transfer millions of dollars to you for your help or participation.
The claims may have strong ties with the Nigerian Government or the Central Bank of Nigeria to your confidence.
Generally the proposal may contain improbable situation, i.e. overpaid millions on a contract, royal money or assets frozen by a foreign government etc.
Many forged official-looking documents.
Requests personal information from you, i.e. your full name, bank account information and routing numbers, home or business telephone and facsimile numbers, or a copy of your letterhead.
Additional fees are continuously requested in order to further the transaction.
Many letters will specify that the transaction is 100% risk-free.

How to file a complaint:

If you receive such a mail, do not respond to the 419 solicitation and report to your own National Law Enforcement Agency and Nation Foreign Office. Then File a complaint with the Nigerian Embassy or High commission in your nation and also file a complaint with the Central Bank of Nigeria via email. If there is any loss, then file a complaint to the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

If the spammers communicate via email, then write their email provider at their “abuse” address (abuse@yahoo.com, abuse@onebox.com etc) and include the message along with its header and ask that the account be shut down.

You may also file complaints with watchdog type services like Spamcop to try and get the 419ers email accounts shut off by whatever ISP they are using - Spamcop and other services like it will parse the headers of the 419 email and try to see through forged information etc. to get back to the actual origin of the 419 email, which is often useful in these matters. Always include the message’s full header information, because this will be helpful in tracking the message’s point of origin.

Precautionary Measures:

If you are entering into a business transaction with foreigners, the following preventive measures can be taken to lessen the risk of becoming victims of an advancing fee fraud.

Ensure the credentials of the person or business with the relevant delegation, to see whether or not he person operates the valid business or that the business does exist.
Never give blank letterheads of invoices to the other party.
Do not pay anything in advance unless you absolutely receive that goods or services.
Make sure that your travel documents are in order.