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The origin of the 419
scam is debated. Many critics believe that the scam first was
introduced to Nigeria by Nigerian petroleum companies and criminal
gangs in the 1970s or 1980s. There are others who suppose that the
scam was a combination of different frauds in the Igboland region,
some hundreds of years old.
The first scams involved lucrative oil contracts
and other related frauds. Until about 2001, the scammers were
located primarily in Lagos, Aba, Owerri, and Port Harcourt,
Nigeria. The scammers have recently set up their bases in
many countries besides Nigeria, including Togo, the Ivory
Coast, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Canada.
Nigerian money transfer fraud is the other name
for Nigerian
scam or 419 scam. They are associated in the public mind with
Nigeria due to the increase of such confidence tricks from Nigeria
since the mid-eighties, although they are often carried out in other
African nations, and increasingly from European cities with large
Nigerian populations, notably London and Amsterdam.
Originally, the scammers contacted heads of
companies and church officials; however, the use of e-mail
spam and instant messaging for the initial contacts has led
to many private citizens also being targeted, as the cost
to the scammers to make initial contact was much lower. The
United States Federal Trade Commission has issued a Consumer
Alert (http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/nigeralrt.htm)
about the Nigerian scam. It states: "If you receive an
offer via email from someone claiming to need your help getting
money out of Nigeria — or any other country, for that
matter — forward it to the FTC at spam@uce.gov."
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