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."