419 Scams...what are they?

Advance fee fraud, otherwise known as 419 scams, etc etc, are pretty common on the internet these days. Often times you will find your e-mail inbox clogged with them. Looking for a job? Scammers will start sending you emails to offer you "work."

Generally, a 419 scam email will look something like this (btw, the number "419" refers to the article of the Nigerian law dealing with fraud),

Permit me to inform you of my desire of going into business relationship with you. I am Wumi Abdul; the only Daughter of late Mr and Mrs George Abdul. My father was a very wealthy cocoa merchant in Abidjan,the economic capital of Ivory Coast before he was poisoned to death by his business associates on one of their outing to discus on a business deal.Before the death of my father on 30th June 2002 in a private hospital here in Abidjan. He secretly called me on his bedside and told me that he has a sum of $12.500.000 (Twelve Million, five hundred thousand dollars) left in a suspense account in a local Bank here in Abidjan, that he used my name as his first Daughter for the next of kin in deposit of the fund.

No matter the content of the email you receive, the scam is the same. Delete any email that promises you a percentage of a large sum of money in exchange for helping to transfer or process funds. These messages are the first contact and "bait" for Nigerian scams. The sum of money does not exist.

Those who take the bait by replying to a Nigerian scam message will eventually be asked for advance fees to allow the deal to proceed.

Even simply giving out personal information, like filling out a job application or sending information about yourself, may make you a target of identity theft.

Read all about 419 scams on Snopes.

There are also communities of vigilante type internet users built around fucking with 419 scammers.

419 Baiter and 419 Eater are two of my favorite sites. In fact, 419 Eater bills itself as the largest scambaiting community on the internet. And reading through their forums you can see why. They often bait the scammers (a process known as "scambaiting"), with hilarious results. They also have a Hall of Shame section which is updated periodically and very amusing. You can also find podcasts of prank calls placed to the 419 scammers. Interesting stuff.

Now if you have ever found yourself interested in actually replying to one of those emails, just to see what will happen, read this first! Scambaiting can be very amusing if done safely. And remember, every minute you take of their time is one less minute they spend finding a real target. You could be helping to save someone's grandma from getting scammed!