The so-called "419" scam (aka "Nigeria scam" or "West African" scam) is a type of fraud named after an article of the Nigerian penal code under which it is prosecuted. It is also known as "Advance Fee Fraud" because the common principle of all the scam format is to get the victim to send cash (or other items of value) upfront by promising them a large amount of money that they would receive later if they cooperate. In almost all cases, the criminals receive money using Western Union and MoneyGram, instant wire transfer services with which the recipient can't be traced once the money has been picked up. These services should never be used with people you only know by email or telephone! Typically, victims of the scam are promised a lottery win (example) or a large sum of money sitting in a bank account or in a deposit box at a security company. Often the storyline involves a family member of a former member of government of an African country, a ministerial official, an orphan or widow of a rich businessman, etc. Here is an example. Variants of the plot involving the Philippines, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Korea, Iraq, Kuwait, UAE, Mauritius, etc. are also known. Some emails include pictures of boxes stuffed with dollar bills, scans of fake passports, bank or government documents and pictures of supposedly the sender.
Though most of these scams use emails sent in English, we also come across emails translated into French, German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Polish and Czech, Indonesian, as well as English and French letters by postal mail, usually mailed from Spain.
Back in the 1980s and 1990s (for this is nothing new!) the main vehicle for this scam were fax machines.
The victims are promised a fortune for providing a bank account to transfer the money to. Then - if they fall for the scam - they are made to part with thousands and sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars in "bribes" for local officials or other "fees" (taxes, insurance, legal fees, etc) before the "partners" finally disappear without trace. Here are some typical examples of advance fee demands.
Sometimes fraudulent cashier's checks are issued to the victims, who are asked to wire funds for various charges after the bank says funds are "available" from the check, but before the check has actually cleared. Any transaction that involves cashing a check for a third party and then forwarding funds from it to another person you don't know is almost guaranteed to be a scam.
- How to report 419 spam to us
- I received an email telling me I won in a lottery. Is this a scam?
Please also report 419 spam to the abuse department of the company that provides their email accounts. For example, if the mail originates from mrjephills6@tiscali.co.uk then write to abuse@tiscali.co.uk, quoting the full text of the mail including message headers (in Outlook Express you get the full message source via Ctrl+F3; use cut+paste to insert that into your email).
I have received a Bank draft / cashier's check / Money order. What should I do?
Some fake lottery scams as well as other scams by gangs from Nigeria involve counterfeit monetary instruments, such as fake cashier's checks or US Postal Money Orders (MO). Counterfeit instruments are also used in other scams from Nigeria, such as fraudulent purchases of cars, motor bikes and other vehicles as well as horses and other animals. By pretending to first make a payment to the victim, the criminals overcome a reluctance by the victim to send cash to a total stranger in another country.
Some fake lottery scams as well as other scams by gangs from Nigeria involve counterfeit monetary instruments, such as fake cashier's checks or US Postal Money Orders (MO). Counterfeit instruments are also used in other scams from Nigeria, such as fraudulent purchases of cars, motor bikes and other vehicles as well as horses and other animals. By pretending to first make a payment to the victim, the criminals overcome a reluctance by the victim to send cash to a total stranger in another country.
So how does this work? Any funds made available by a bank against a deposited check or MO become due again when that check or MO bounces (i.e. is recognized as fake by the bank that supposedly issued it). This could be weeks or even months after those funds were wired to another country by the victim as requested by the criminals. The victim will in effect have wired money borrowed from the bank and will be fully liable for that amount. Here is an example:
- The criminals pose as a legitimate company seeking "representatives" to help process payments from customers of the company.
- A victim responds and gets promised 10% of every transaction.
- A "customer" contacts the victim and sends a $40,000 check supposedly for goods supplied by the "company".
- The victim deposits the check and five days later receives $40,000 in his bank account.
- The "company" instructs the victim to keep $4,000 and wire $36,000 to some foreign bank account.
- One month later the bank calls the victim to report that the deposited check was a fake or stolen check and is void. The $40,000 credit is reversed immediately.
- The victim is now tens of thousands of dollars in debt and may face criminal charges and/or bankrupcy.
The fake checks or MOs are normally mailed from Canada, Nigeria or the UK, though other countries are possible too. They may be part of an elaborate scheme where some person or institution lends funds to a "lottery winner" (the victim), who is unable to come up with the amount demanded for bogus "processing charges" or a minimum deposit for a fake "private bank". They are also used in purchases of big ticket items such as cars. The buyer will send a check that vastly exceeds the value of the car and request the seller to cash it and wire the excess amount to a person who will take care of shipping the purchased car to the buyer. Other examples are "debt repayment" from a third party by check or collecting payments from customers on behalf of a bogus company in Europe, Asia or Africa.
Never deposit such checks or money orders or you could be charged with fraud yourself. In fact under US laws even possession of fake checks and money orders is illegal. Contact your local police and give them check as well as printouts of all emails you have received from the criminals. It's better not to touch the checks or MOs: There may be useful fingerprints on them.
Forward us copies of the emails that preceeded the arrival of the check or MOs. We may be able to identify which other scams this is connected to. See:
Never deposit such checks or money orders or you could be charged with fraud yourself. In fact under US laws even possession of fake checks and money orders is illegal. Contact your local police and give them check as well as printouts of all emails you have received from the criminals. It's better not to touch the checks or MOs: There may be useful fingerprints on them.
Forward us copies of the emails that preceeded the arrival of the check or MOs. We may be able to identify which other scams this is connected to. See:
I already sent money. How can I get it back?
In most cases the answer is you can't.
Most online scams are not seriously investigated by the police. Basically as soon as they find out the criminals are based abroad they give up, because the effort to track down the criminals would be considerable and the chances of success too uncertain. In the United States the FBI only gets involved in online scams such as fake lotteries, fake inheritance claims, etc. with criminals based in Nigeria, Cote d'Ivoire if damages exceed about $100,000. This unfortunately means that such crimes are almost without risk for the criminals. But even in cases where criminals are arrested and convicted in court it is rare that their victims are compensated, because the money has often disappeared by then.
Personally I don't know of a single case where a 419 victim has got his/her money back.
Realistically the only chance to get money back is if you have made a wire transfer a few hours ago and the money hasn't been picked up yet and you phone Western Union / MoneyGram / the bank to cancel the transfer. If this happens soon enough all you lose is the cost of transfer, with the remainder refunded. Once the money has been picked up, it is gone forever.
That's why we try to put as much information online as possible, so victims find out it's a scam *before* they send money.
Beware of any emails, often pretending to originate from official sources in West Africa, Europe or in the USA which tell you they know about the scam and request details about it to help you get your money back. These usually are sent by the very same criminals who cheated you in the first place. The objective is to get you to send even more money, because the "help" never comes for free. You won't get your money back. Instead you'll lose even more money. The criminals are extremely cruel and without conscience, driving many of their victims into ruin.
How can I help fight this scam?
What can I do to protect others from this scam?
Since you've discovered this website, you know that a suspicious email you received is a scam. Many others do not know and are still at risk. Here is how you can help:
What can I do to protect others from this scam?
Since you've discovered this website, you know that a suspicious email you received is a scam. Many others do not know and are still at risk. Here is how you can help:
- Report spam: Report any 419 spam to the webmail provider used to send the spam or to receive replies (see abuse contact list). For example, if the mail originates from mrjephills6@tiscali.co.uk or if that address is listed as a person to contact then write to abuse@tiscali.co.uk, quoting the full text of the mail including message headers (in Outlook Express you get the full message source via Ctrl+F3; use cut+paste to insert that into your email).
In particular, report any contact addresses mentioned in the body of the spam itself, such as "claims agents" of fake lotteries. These are the most important mailboxes the scammers use. The sooner we get them shut down, the fewer victims there will be. - Inform others: Talk about this scam to your family and colleagues at work.
- Pinging: Contact the scammers from a disposable Yahoo account to get them to reply, then forward the reply as evidence to us (see here for more details).
- Scambaiting: You can help collect evidence against scammers and waste their time by contacting them from a webmail account (Warning: Do not use your normal email account to do this!). For example, you can create an account at Yahoo.com (link) and then paste the email you received into a message you compose, as if you had received the spam in your Yahoo account. Once you receive a reply, forward a copy of the reply from the criminals to us. To forward an email in Yahoo Mail as an attachment, hold down the Control key while clicking on the Forward button, then address the email to 419@419scam.org. Receiving such replies from "claims agents", "barristers" and "securities companies" allows us to track the true location from which the scammers send their emails (we don't need the emails you sent to the scammers, only their replies). If you really want to waste scammers' time, visit http://www.scambaits.net and read their advice on the art of scambaiting :-)
- Support our efforts: Thousands of people have been alerted to this scam through our website. They used a search engine and found an email address, a name or a telephone number from a 419 email listed by us. Compiling and publishing such information to educate people like you and your family is a time-consuming process for us. Unlike the criminals we take on, we don't make any money from the time we spend.
- Filter spam: You can stop receiving 419 and other spams and at the same time support our efforts by purchasing a copy of jwSpamSpy, our spam filter for Windows 2000/XP (US$29.95 / €25 / £18). It has a 30 day free trial period and supports email programs such as Outlook Express or Microsoft Outlook on Windows (not available for Yahoo.com or AOL.com).
- Report to the police: Report 419 spam to law enforcement in your own country, such as the local police or (in the US) the US Secret Service. An overview of reporting addresses for various countries can be found at the
If you need to contact law enforcement in Nigeria, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), a body set up by the Nigerian government in 2002, may be helpful: - Spamtraps: If you have a website you can embed email addresses on pages on your site so they are found by address harvesting software or spammers. We can provide you with an email address that you can hide there or you can create your own email account and have it forward email to one of our spamtraps. Please contact us for details! The more fraud spams we receive, the more criminals we can warn people about.
- Sabotage: Many fraud emails give contact phone numbers. Carefully check the local time before you make any calls, because who would want to be woken up at 3am? If the number starts with +44 70 or +234 80 then check the local time in Lagos, if the number starts with +31 6 or +31 4 check the local time in Amsterdam or Madrid. Some people reply to 419 spam emails and ask the criminals to call them back, giving them phone numbers of other 419 scammers to call. Some people mail large files such as digital snaps to the contact addresses listed in the emails. This can fill up their mailboxes pretty quickly, preventing emails by potential victims from reaching the criminals.
- Muguito / Mugu Marauder: Most fake bank websites set up by criminals will be shut down by the webhosters when contacted. Sites that stay up get targetted by Muguito / the Mugu Marauder, software that you can run from your broadband connection to kill fake banks. If you have flatrate access without bandwitdth cap you can leave it running over night to deprive fraud sites of bandwidth.
I want these guys arrested. What must I do?
This almost never happens - arrest rates for this type of crime are very low. There are a number of reasons for this. This type of crime crosses national borders and uses a relatively anonymous medium, the internet as well as cellphones. There is no crime location as such and investigations are very technical in nature. There is still too little specialized expertise within the police forces. Also, as a white collar crime it does not get the same kind of resources as violent crime or the ideologically driven so-called "war on drugs".
This almost never happens - arrest rates for this type of crime are very low. There are a number of reasons for this. This type of crime crosses national borders and uses a relatively anonymous medium, the internet as well as cellphones. There is no crime location as such and investigations are very technical in nature. There is still too little specialized expertise within the police forces. Also, as a white collar crime it does not get the same kind of resources as violent crime or the ideologically driven so-called "war on drugs".
To get an investigation started you have to report the case to law enforcement in your own country, no matter what phone numbers are listed in the emails. Some countries have institutions that specialize in fraud or online crimes. For example, in the United States the Secret Service investigates financial fraud cases. In other countries special sections of the regular local or state police force will handle reported cases.
An overview of reporting addresses for various countries can be found at the
If this a known scam, why are these guys not arrested?
If you want to find out for yourself, take a printout of a 419 scam email to a police station and try to report a criminal fraud. The officers will basically tell you to delete or ignore such emails when you get them, but not do much more. The sad fact is, the police does not have the resources or the training to cope with the current volume of online scams (though billions of dollars seem to be available for fighting a fruitless "war on drugs", arguably itself an advance fee fraud, but I digress...).
If you want to find out for yourself, take a printout of a 419 scam email to a police station and try to report a criminal fraud. The officers will basically tell you to delete or ignore such emails when you get them, but not do much more. The sad fact is, the police does not have the resources or the training to cope with the current volume of online scams (though billions of dollars seem to be available for fighting a fruitless "war on drugs", arguably itself an advance fee fraud, but I digress...).
There is no real crime location in online fraud, which raises issues of under which jurisdiction the crime was committed. In most cases the victim and the criminals live in different countries, which means multiple police forces have to cooperate. This is complicated by the fact that classic 419 havens such as Nigeria or other West African countries have major corruption problems. Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) is in the middle of a civil war and some cities in Nigeria are basically "no go"-areas for the Nigerian federal police.
419 fraud is an industry that on some estimates makes hundreds of millions of dollars per year. It employs thousands of crooks, who vastly outnumber the police officers who investigate their scams. This is not just a few young guys going to an internet cafe to cheat some foreigners. In many cases, African internet cafes are owned by the gang bosses, who pay young men hourly wages for "working" in 419-sweatshops. These bosses are politically well connected and pay off the right people.
Therefore, don't expect this problem to go away any time soon. Instead, expect it to get worse. To use a classic phrase from Nigeria scams, these scams are almost "100% RISK FREE" for the scammers.
How can I report scams to you?
We have received many emails from near-victims who backed out of a fake lottery or other advance fee scam or fraudulent business transaction after they did a search for an email address, name or phone number and came across it on our 419 blacklist. We publish such data to warn potential victims about such scams. The more scammers we can get listed, the more crimes will be prevented. You too can help!
We have received many emails from near-victims who backed out of a fake lottery or other advance fee scam or fraudulent business transaction after they did a search for an email address, name or phone number and came across it on our 419 blacklist. We publish such data to warn potential victims about such scams. The more scammers we can get listed, the more crimes will be prevented. You too can help!
If you've received what looks like a 419 spam (basically, any email from a stranger that promises an unexpected fortune), you're welcome to send us a copy. Please make sure to include the five character string [419] in the subject line of the email (you can follow this with further details, such as name of the fake lottery or other company, alias or email address of the criminal, phone numbers, etc). Examples:
We strongly prefer mails that are submitted as an attached email. That way we will receive an exact copy of the mail you received, as an attachment. We will put that into our database and process it with our spamfilter, which not only lets us verify it looks like a real 419 mail, it also extracts the 419 sender address automatically and we can find out which email provider the criminals used and other information useful for tracking them. Alternatively, you can use copy and paste using the Scam-O-Matic webform, see further below.Subject: [419] MICROSOFT EMAIL LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL
Subject: [419] james_robin1@hotmail.com
Subject: [419]
How to report fraud by e-mail using Outlook Express
If you are using Outlook Express, open or select the fraud email, then click "Message" and "Forward as Attachment". Type our address <419@419scam.org> into the To: field, use [419] and optional extra information as the subject (see examples above) and click the "Send" button.
How to report fraud by e-mail using Yahoo mail
If you are using Yahoo mail (Classic), open the email, hold down the Control key and click on the "Forward" button. Type our address <419@419scam.org> into the To: field, use [419] as the subject and click the "Send" button.
How to report fraud by e-mail using Incredimail
- Repeat previous step as necessary for multiple emails.
- Create a new mail addressed to 419@419scam.org and attach the file(s) created in the previous steps.
- Highlight the message body of the suspect mail with your mouse and press Ctrl+C to copy the text into the clipboard.
- Go to the "Scam-O-Matic" webform and paste it there.
- You can also provide the email address from which you received the mail, subject lines or header information.
- If you leave an email address where we can contact you then we can get back to you later if we find more information for you or if we need more information about the scam from you.
Use this form to report suspected telemarketing or Internet fraud. Telemarketing can include offers made by mail or other means that ask you to respond by phone. The information you provide will be transmitted to the appropriate law enforcement agencies
U Can Also Report here :- Link
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