Nigerian Spam » History of 419 Scam

History Of 419 Scam

The 419 scam was originated during 1990s as the oil-based economy of Nigeria went downward. Several unemployed university students first used this 419 scam as a way of manipulating business visitors interested in shady deals in the Nigerian oil sector before aiming greedy businessmen in the west, and then later the wider population. Early alternates were often sent via letter, fax, or throu gh Telex. The spread of email and very easy access to email-harvesting software made the cost lower of sending scam letters through the internet extremely cheap. While various figures have violently claimed, which the 419 scam employs as many as 250,000 people in the Nigeria, in reality it has regularly been linked only to small organized gangs often working in concert with western cities and in Nigeria. In recent years, the 419 scam has urged imitations in a variety of trouble spots in Africa and in Eastern Europe.

In fact the advance fee fraud (419 scam) is a very old Nigerian scam than that, dating back to 1588 where letters were written stating to be from a prisoner trapped in a Spanish castle. The fictitious prisoner would further promise to share a treasure with a person who will send them money to bribe their guards.