The so called 419 scam is named after a section of the Criminal Code of Nigeria. The Scam works as follows: the target receives an unsolicited fax, email, or letter often concerning Nigeria or another African country containing either a money laundering or other illegal proposal, or you may receive a legitimate business proposal by normal means.

Common variations on the Scam include "over invoiced" or "double invoiced" oil or other supply and service contracts where the perpetrators want to get the overage out of Nigeria (Classic 419); crude oil and other commodity deals (a form of Goods and Services 419); a "bequest" left to you in a will (Will Scam 419); "money cleaning" where the perpetrators have a lot of currency that needs to be "chemically cleaned" before it can be used and he needs the cost of the chemicals (Black Currency 419).

"Spoof banks" are also common, where there is supposedly money in your name already on deposit; "paying" for a purchase with a cheque for a greater amount than the amount required and asking for change to be advanced (cashier's check and money order 419); fake lottery 419; chat room and romance 419 (usually coupled with one of the other forms of 419); employment 419 (including secret shopper 419) ; and ordering items and commodities off "trading" and "auction" sites on the web and then cheating the seller. The variations of Advance Fee Fraud (419) are very creative and virtually endless, so do not consider the above as an all-inclusive list!

 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, send back "change" on an overage cashier's check or money order, whatever. If the victim pays the Fee, there are often many "Complications" which require still more advance payments until the victim either quits, runs out of money, or both. If the victim extends credit on a given transaction etc. he may also pay such fees ("nerfund" etc.) and also loses the goods or service with no effective recourse.

Most 419 letters and emails originate from, or are traceable back to, Nigeria. Some originate from other West African countries such as Ghana, Togo, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast etc. 

For more information contact the international team on 0845 034 7200.