What are 419 advanced fee scams?

Question

Recently came across this term ?

Answer 1

Also known as 'Nigerian scams' because this where many of them originate. They are financial cons.
They began as a postal scam but are now blossoming via email.

They work by offering the recipient a huge sum of money, usually for help in transferring money out of Nigeria (or wherever the scammer is operating). Any recipient that replies is pursued vigorously, with the aim of getting them to part with their own cash.
How? By telling them that an admin fee is needed to cover the cost of the transfer, or of official bribes, or anything remotely believable. Of course if the recipient sends anything it's lost forever.

The '419' comes from the reference number of the relevant section of the Nigerian Criminal Code.

Answer 2

Check out a site, I think it's called 419eater.com. If not, then do a search on 419 eater.

It's a site where people, as a hobby, lead on these scammers through email. It's like a scam the scammers game. You pretend to be a dumb American with lots of money, and they will keep emailing you trying to get you to send the money, and you keep wasting their time and getting them to jump through hoops in order to get the money. It's very funny. They have good examples.

I think it's called the 419 scam because of the area code in Nigeria where a lot of the scamming takes place. They have a better explanation on 419eater. Read some of their examples of scambaiting too, they're hilarious.

Answer 3

It's a scam called variously Advanced Fee Fraud, Nigerian Advanced Fee Fraud or 419 Scam. Recently a lot of the scammers seem to have moved to the Ivory Coast.

The Nigerian Scams are known as such because the type of fraud that they attempt originated in Nigeria. Before the days of email the same type of fraud was attempted by post, so they are not new by any means! They are also known as "419 scams" after Section 419 of the Nigerian Penal Code which makes this type of scam illegal in that country.

Basically they tell you some hard luck story and say they have millions of dollars that they can't get hold of without your help... and they offer you a massive slice of the cash if you "help" them.
Then they report various obstacles that they need you (and your cash) to help them overcome. The idea is to slowly bleed you dry with promises that just one more bribe to a customs official or whatever and the money will be on its way to you. There is no money (or if there is then it's fake).

There are basically three things that can be done with a "419" email, depending on how much time and effort you are prepared to spend:-

1. The simplest of all - DELETE it. Never reply, even to say "ha ha I know you're trying to scam me" This just confirms that you have a functioning email address and the scammer will then try to sell it on to someone else - so what you'll get is more 419 emails!

2. If the email comes from an email provider that you recognise and trust, like Yahoo, Hotmail, Netscape etc then forward the message headers to the email provider with a note of the complaint. [The message source maybe faked but often a contact email address is quoted in the message the scammer actually writes to you.]
To do this on Outlook Express:-
Right click the message and select Properties
Click on the Details tab
Click on Message Source
Right click the mass of code you see and click Select All to highlight the entire message
Right click again and click Copy
Paste into your message to Yahoo, Hotmail or whoever

The address to email this to is "abuse@(the email provider) eg. [e-mail]

I have a standard message in my autosignature to save time, which reads:-

"Dear Sirs,
We have today received the message, forwarded below, which appears to be from one of your users, namely [here I quote the email address of the scammer]

We believe that this message is an attempted West African Advanced Fee
Fraud, also known as a "419 Fraud". See London Metropolitan Police Fraud Unit website at:-
http://www.met.police.uk/fraudalert/419....
for further details.

We trust that you will take appropriate action against such abuse of your terms and conditions of use.

For your information, the message source code is provided below:-
******************************...

[I paste the message source in here]

******************************...

Sincerely "

Yahoo in particular is very good at deleting these scammer's email addresses so they don't get any replies and can't work their scam on unsuspecting victims

3. The third thing you can do is for experts only - but it is very amusing... play the scammer along and make him waste his time and money on you. WARNING: Don't try this unless you are confident that you know what you are doing. These guys are ruthless criminals and are likely to get VERY annoyed with you.

Visit this site for loads of advice (and some very amusing tales on how the scammers have been themselves scammed):-

http://www.419eater.com/index.htm......

But whatever you do, don't fall for it and don't let any of your friends or relatives fall for it either. The mere fact that these scams are still being attempted means that SOME people must be being fooled otherwise the scammers wouldn't be bothering to send out their nasty little emails

Answer 4

Hello,

(ANS) The 419 scam is an email phising scam or con, these emails are now VERY well known about by the police & UK authorties.

419 emails almost always come from Africa and Nigeria or Ghana. The basic story goes like this, my name is X (whatever it is?) & I'm representing someone famous here & I need to move some funds abroad in the near future (or urgently?). Please will you help me and allow me to use your bank account in order to transfer the funds abroad. In return we will pay you a large sum of cash as a thanks. (yahh!! right!!).

**Of course it goes without saying that those people how have fallen for this trick had their bank accounts cleaned out in seconds. A heard of a guy in the USA who lost $10,000 this way.

**I have been sent hundreds of such emails, they are so obviously a scam or con I dont even bother openning them now, they all get deleted in the blink on an eye!!.

IR

Answer 5

I got one sent me a while back in the email from a woman called Patricia Walker claiming to be from a software lottery company and claiming that I had won 700,000 Euros. I typed the name Patricia Walker into the search engine and a number of sites exposing well known scams came up with copy's of the email that was sent to me, only they were addressed to different people.

If you believe the email and call the number and disclose your bank number they are said to call you back and require money off you in order to receive the prize never comes.

Reading on the subject, scam exposing sites say that no genuine lottery company asks for money in advance of payment,

Answer 6

Advanced Fee Scams are when someone e-mails you stating that either you have won a (fictitious) lottery or that someone has dies with millions of dollars in their bank with no next of kin and they will share the money with you if you pretend you are related.
Once they have you hooked into the story they will tell you that they need money for some reason...They will keep getting money from you then disappear...
Recently a US County treasurer in Michigan (USA) was found guilty of stealing money to send to a scammer...People have been known to send up to a million dollars to a scammer.
There are also sites for people who like to bait scammers like www.419baiter.com

Answer 7

I actually just posted a question on this same subject. 419 scams are letters sent from Nigeria (although they may say they are from somewhere else) asking you to either cash a check and send them funds (fake check, you get caught and take the rap) or send them money in advance for a larger sum of money (you lose your money). They are heartless criminals! I got a message today from a "us soldier" see my questions for more info.. whatever you do, don't do it!

Answer 8

They are also known as the Nigerian Bank Scam.

The 419 refers to the part of Nigerian criminal code that describes it.

Someone contacts you and says that they need your help with moving money out of their country, or that a very long lost rich relative of yours did and left you a fortune, or that your ID was stolen and someone used it for a bank account which now has millions in it, or that a person died and had no family and the executor is needing someone to take the money. There are all sorts of stories.

In a nutshell, you are contacted out of nowhere with an opportunity to get something valuable. However, there will be problems with the transaction. The person on the other end needs money to make things happen or they need your bank account information. If you give them either you are in trouble. If it is money, they will take it and run. If it is the bank account they will empty it and maybe even use it for other illegal scams. Many times they want you to fork over all your information so they can steal your ID. There are some even more serious versions where they use this to lure people to travel to another country where the person is basically blackmailed to give up tons of money. The scam is pretty varied.

I got an email from one of these guys just this morning. I get them every once in a while. It is fun to read what kind of stories they come up with. However, I usually delete them and forget about it. I never try to contact them because that will just let them know that they have a live person on the other end of my email. There are some people who like to mess with these guys and play with them and make them believe they have a new sucker.

Ok, here is the text from the email I got this morning.

INVESTMENT PROPOSAL

I am Barr. Edward A. Cole, a Solicitor at law with Falcon Chamber & London Bar Association and a personal attorney to late Mr. Christian Eich. With due respect and regard, I wish to seek your urgent assistance to transfer the sum of ($12 million Dollars) belonging to my late client Mr. Christian Eich who died on a plane crash with his wife, two children and his wife parents. Click this link for verification: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stm,
Before his death, Mr. Christian Eich lodged this money in a depository company in abroad.

I am contacting you as his personal attorney to front you as his partner in business and lay claims to the fund, which is with the depository
company and before his death, he intend to use this money for a lucrative and a profitable business.

All I require is your honest CO-OPERATION, CONFIDENTIALITY and TRUST to facilitate this transaction through you. I guarantee you that this transaction will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. Please get in touch with me urgently with this informationâ€â„¢s to establish a structural relationship.

1. Your Full Name
2. Your Telephone Number and Fax Number.
3. Your Contact Address.
4. Occupation/ Age.

This is to enable me commence immediate preparation of the agreement of memorandum that will bind both of us together for my record purpose. Upon getting back to me I will let you know more details regarding this transaction.

Sincerely,
Barrister Edward A. Cole,
[phone].
www.falcon-chambers.co.uk


This one is pretty nasty because it uses a real news story of a real tragedy to try to lure the victim. That is pretty rotten. They are asking for pretty basic info, but that would just be the start. A professional 419er would not try to get me to give him everything right off of the bat. They know that would scare me away. Instead, they want my contact info and they would bombard me with letters, phone calls, faxes, and more emails. If I contacted them, they would know that they had a live one on the hook and they would start trying to reel me in.

So, that is what I know of 419 scams. Actually there is a lot more. Here are a few websites with more info.

http://home.rica.net/alphae/419coal/

http://www.419eater.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance_fee_fraud

http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/nigeria.asp

Answer 9

Scams for the greedy and gullible. Someone will offer you vast amounts of money if they can wash humongous amounts through your bank account. The sting is that they will need 20, 000 or so to 'bribe officials' for the release of the cash - yeah, right

Answer 10

I was surprised to hear that a man local to here had fallen for these scams and had lost £10,000 only recently. He had the courage to come on local radio to admit what he'd done in order to warn others. Brave man!

The current one doing the rounds is about the lottery, phishing for bank details so they can "deposit winnings into your account".

Yeah!