Posted on 04/23/2002 5:02:46 PM PDT by vannrox
A Five Billion US$ (as of 1996, much more now) worldwide Scam which has run since the early 1980's under Successive Governments of Nigeria. It is also referred to as "Advance Fee Fraud", "419 Fraud" (Four-One-Nine) after the relevant section of the Criminal Code of Nigeria, and "The Nigerian Connection" (mostly in Europe). However, it is usually called plain old "419" even by the Nigerians themselves.
The Scam operates as follows: the target receives an unsolicited fax, email, or letter concerning Nigeria containing either a money laundering or other illegal proposal OR you may receive a Legal and Legitimate business proposal by normal means. Common variations on the Scam include "overinvoiced" or "double invoiced" oil or other supply and service contracts where your Bad Guys want to get the overage out of Nigeria; crude oil and other commodity deals; a "bequest" left you in a will; and "money cleaning" where your Bad Guy has a lot of currency that needs to be "chemically cleaned" before it can be used and he needs the cost of the chemicals. Or the victim will just be stiffed on a legitimate goods or services contract...the variations are very creative and virtually endless.
At some point, the victim is asked to pay up front an Advance Fee of some sort, be it an "Advance Fee", "Transfer Tax", "Performance Bond", or to extend credit, grant COD privileges, whatever. If the victim pays the Fee, there are many "Complications" which require still more advance payments until the victim either quits, runs out of money, or both. If the victim extends credit etc. he may also pay such fees ("nerfund" etc.), and then he is stiffed with NO Effective Recourse.
The Nigerian Scam is, according to published reports, the Third to Fifth largest industry in Nigeria. It is the 419 Coalition view that, in effect, the elites from which successive Governments of Nigeria have been drawn ARE the Scammers - therefore, victims have little recourse in this matter. Monies stolen by 419 operations are almost Never Recovered from Nigeria, though there have been some indications of progress in anti-419 matters under the Obasanjo government. These include a website sponsored by the Nigerian High Commission in the UK called NigerianFraudWatch.org which educates people concerning 419 fraud operations and to which 419 reports, complaints, and materials can be SENT.
Most 419 letters and emails originate from or are traceable back to Nigeria. However, some originate from other nations, mostly also West African nations such as Ghana, Togo, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast ( Cote D'Ivoire ) etc. In most cases 419 emails from other nations are also Nigerian in that the "Home Office" of the 419ers involved is Nigeria regardless of the source of the contact materials. But there are occasionally some "local" copycats trying to emulate the success of the Nigerians. These folks tend not to last too long actually operating out of nations other than Nigeria, but they do try.
419 COALITION DOES NOT NEED TO SEE A COPY OF THE LETTER, EMAIL, OR FAX YOU RECEIVED we've seen tens of thousands already. But please DO FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS THAT APPLY TO YOU AS GIVEN IN THE WHAT TO DO SECTION BELOW, WHICH TELLS YOU WHERE TO SEND THE 419 MATERIALS YOU RECEIVED..
Please Read the ENTIRE site BEFORE contacting 419 Coalition for information, questions etc., as ALL AVAILABLE INFORMATION AND DATA IS ALREADY SUMMARIZED AND POSTED UP ON THIS SITE.
You may also email the 419er documents, especially any Banking Data they may have given you, marked No Loss, to Task Force Main in DC; that is also acceptable.
Since Task Force is Very Busy dealing with cases in which there Have been financial losses, it is NOT customary for them to contact you in cases where there has been No Loss. But it is Very Important that you get your 419ers data into the Task Force Database, so DO send it along.
2. IF you are a United States Citizen or Resident and YOU HAVE SUFFERED A FINANCIAL LOSS write "Financial Loss - Contact Me ASAP" on the documents you have received and Fax them to the Task Force at 202-406-6930 or 202-406-5031 and give Your telephone number(s). A Secret Service Agent will call you back as soon as possible to discuss the matter with you ( don't worry, you're Not in any trouble ). You may also email the 419er materials, especially any Banking Data they have given you, to Task Force Main in DC marked Financial Loss - Contact Me ASAP and give your phone number.
If you don't get contacted by a Special Agent soon enough to suit you, call the Task Force Voice at 202-406-5850 and tell the Operator (or voicemail) that it's Urgent, you want to talk to an Agent as soon as possible, and give your name and telephone number(s).
Alternatively, you can email the material to Task Force Main in DC marked Loss or No Loss.
If there is a US Connection to the 419 operation, please Clearly state exactly what that is and give details.
2. Notify your Own Nation's National Law Enforcement Agency and your Own Nation's Foreign Office.
Do not expect to be contacted by Task Force in No Loss cases or in Loss cases without a US connection. There IS, however, an an informal group of National and International Law Enforcement Agencies which meets and shares Information and Data on Nigerian Scam operations, and it is Important that your 419ers data be on record to be included in these discussions.
2. If you wish, file a Complaint with the Nigerian Embassy or High Commission in your nation. The Nigerian High Commission in the UK now sponsors a site called Nigerianfraudwatch.org and you can email 419 materials and reports to them at:
They say they will forward your complaint to the Nigerian High Commission in your country; that they will report the matter to the appropriate authorities in your country; and that they will report the matter to the appropriate police authories in Nigeria itself.
3. If the contact from the 419ers was via email: write their email provider at their "abuse" address (abuse@yahoo.com, abuse@onebox.com etc.) and include the 419er message with its headers; complain about the 419 message; and ask that the account be shut down.
And please do fax hardcopy of your Bad Guy Data, especially Nigerian Scammer Banking Data to the US Task Force, appropriately marked with Canada, Loss ( or No Loss as the Case May Be ), No US Connection, For Your Database, at 202-406-6930. You may also email such data to Task Force Main in DC if you prefer.
If there IS a US Connection, please Follow These Instructions for Canada AND ALSO follow the instructions for US Citizens and Residents given above.
You may also access the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Website (RCMP/GRC) which contains a section on the Nigerian Scam.
Also please fax the Scam documents, especially Nigerian Scammer banking data, to the US Task Force at 202-406-6930 appropriately marked South Africa - Loss ( or No Loss as the case may be ) - For Your Database. Please be SURE to state if there is any US Connection to your 419ers' operations, particularly if there is US Banking Data on them. You may also email such relevant data to Task Force Main in DC if you prefer to do it that way.
The South African Police Service maintains a 419 Scams/Nigerian Letters Alert on their website. For a look at a short Anti-419 Pamphlet issued by and available from the South African Police Service, Click Here.
In addition to the above, if you HAVE lost money and there is a UK connection to the 419 operation, the NCIS wishes to speak directly with you as soon as possible. Persons who Have actually lost money to such scams can contact NCIS at :
victim@spring39.demon.co.uk
or by phone at 020 7238 8012.
NCIS also notes that 419 emails are very common, and it is possible that you may receive others in the future. Please do not send them direct to NCIS unless there is a loss, but as well as transmitting them direct to your local fraud squad, please send a copy to the Internet Service Provider (ISP's) from where the 419er email has originated. These emails to the ISP's should be addressed to:
abuse@"the ISP's name"
(for example abuse@yahoo.com, abuse@hotmail.com, abuse@onebox.com).
By this method the ISP's will be able to quickly terminate the accounts that abuse their systems.
Anyone OUTSIDE the UK receiving such a letter or email with a UK connection is advised to Notify your Own Nation's National Law Enforcement Agency and your Own Nation's Foreign Office; to NOT reply to the 419er communication; and to forward the 419er correspondence to the National Criminal Intelligence Service, PO Box 8000, London SE11 5EN, or by e-mail.
Also please email 419 letters, materials, and other relevant data to Task Force Main in DC or fax it to them at 202-406-6930 (US) if you prefer. Please be SURE to state if there is any US Connection to your 419ers' operations, Particularly if there is US Banking Data on them. Please mark the materials Loss ( or No Loss as the case may be ) - For Your Database.
419 Coalition is always glad to try and answer via email any questions from individuals or journalists on 419 matters which are NOT already covered on the site.
419 Coalition no longer takes voice calls nor does voice interviews. We used to, but we were too overwhelmed to continue doing so. However, author Brian Wizard ( Nigerian 419 Scam: Game Over! ) does enjoy doing occasional voice interviews. US Secret Service 419 Task Force also has spokesmen available for interviews, call them in Washington DC at 202-406-5850.
419 Coalition no longer "furnishes" 419 victims to the media for interviews, sorry. However, several victims have stated in our News sections that they are available for interview and have given their contact data, so check there.
419 Coalition tracks hits on this page, employing Watchwise to do so. This page, the "index page" of our site, is the only page
on it we track. We can track back to ISP and IP. We do this for several reasons, among them:
1. To be able to demonstrate that hits on this page come from other sources than us sitting here and hitting "return" a thousand times at a clip :) :)
2. When we see a surge of hits from different IP's in a given nation, we are able to advise USSS 419 Task Force of a surge of 419 activity directed at that nation, which allows Task Force in cooperation with local authorities to understake preemptive educational and other measures there.
3. We like to know what governmental agencies etc. in the US and worldwide are actively interested in 419.
Here are what individual "hit" reports look like:
04 Dec 2001 11:57:09 212.96.2.135 212.96.2.135 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.0; Windows NT)
03 Dec 2001 15:37:43 156.80.108.193 156.80.108.193 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.01; Windows NT 5.0)
30 Nov 2001 10:34:15 gated.thls.bbc.co.uk 132.185.240.13 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.01; Windows 98; DigExt; BBC Desktop)
30 Nov 2001 08:51:23 tias-gw7.treas.gov 199.196.144.17 Mozilla/4.5 [en]C-CCK-MCD (Win98; U)
Various statistical reports are then compiled from the individual hit reports.
419 Coalition reserves the right to use all hit data and all materials received by us in any way we, in our sole judgement, see fit, including relaying data and materials to such authorities as we deem useful. Those who disagree with this policy may of course use other counter-419 sites for their research etc. There are links to many counter-419 sites on our Fighters page. We do not track hits on the Fighters page. As we note above the Index Page ( that is This page ) is the Only page of this site that we track.
Thank you for visiting The 419 Coalition website. We hope that you have found it useful.
One of my Australian friends taught me how to have fun with these jerks. Negogiate with them by email, telling them you think your share of the cash/diamonds/gold/whatever is far too small for the risk and effort you're putting into the enterprise. I'll post the reply he got from one of them if I can find it but it went along these lines:
"You are a greedy and dishonorable person, you are too selfish and I can no longer correspond with you!"
Like you, I've received my share of these emails (several EXACTLY like yours). I get a kick out of responding with "Sure!!!! Simply wire the funds to The Left Bank, account # YDONTU EAT S**T. I look forward to helping."
Emails and phone recordings were posted on the net with the story.
I remember that! I recall reading it on someone's webpage a few years ago. It was hilarious.
Wish I could find it but there were so many hits for "Nigerian" + "Scam" in google that I didn't know where to start looking.
Great entertainment!
Van, don't fall for this jamoke's spiel.
I will do this job for you for only $100.00.
I dunno; people have been trying various forms of socialism since the Pharoahs.
General rule of thumb -- if it sounds too good to be true, it is.
Don't listen to him! Oh, sure, he advertises $100.00, but then he'll hit you up for first class airfare to Nigeria via Madrid.
One through five should be:
"NEVER DO BUSINESS WITH NIGERIA!"
So you're saying that this is all just some pyramid scheme?
NaW.
(Well, someone had to say it...)
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