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 "419 Fraud" (Four-One-Nine) after a formerly relevant section of the Criminal
Code of Nigeria, "419 Advance Fee Fraud (419 AFF)", and "The Nigerian Connection" (mostly in Europe). However, it is usually
called plain old "419" even by the Nigerians themselves. 419 is defined as a sub-classification of Advance Fee Fraud in which
the criminals have a West African (primarily Nigerian) connection. There are of course Advance Fee Fraud criminals of many
nationalites, operating in many nations, but only Advance Fee Fraud crime with a West African (primarily Nigerian) connection
is classified as 419. 419ers operate globally and there are 419er cells in many nations, but Nigeria tends to be the "home office"
of most 419ers regardless of the physical location of an individual cell. 419 crime is multinational and transnational. In recent
years the massive use of e-mail and the internet to perpetrate 419 crime have made it virtually omnipresent.
Historically, 419 is said to be a modern derivative of traditional centuries old West African scams and pranks such as the "Red Mercury" scam (a "magical substance" advance fee fraud scam very similar to Black Currency 419, which is described below. Although 419 has often been erroneously described as an evolution of an old European advance fee fraud called the "Spanish Prisoner" scam, after a journalist doing an early article on noted the similarities between it and certain forms of 419, in actuality 419 is more of a "home grown" enterprise as it were.
419 Scams operate as follows: the target receives an unsolicited fax, email,
or letter often concerning Nigeria or another African nation 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 (Classic 419); crude oil and other commodity deals (a form of Goods and Services 419); a "bequest" left you in a will (Will
Scam 419); "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 (Black Currency 419, also called Wash-Wash) ; "spoof banks" where there is
supposedly money in your name already on deposit; "paying" for a purchase with a check larger 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 stiffed for the Goods or Service with NO Effective Recourse.
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 (even European nations like the UK,
the Netherlands, Spain etc. ) are also Nigerian in that the "Home Office" of the 419ers
involved is Nigeria regardless of the apparent source of the contact materials.
But there are occasionally some "local" copycats trying to emulate the success
of the Nigerians, generally not very successfully.
The Nigerian Scam is, according to published reports, the Third to Fifth largest
industry in Nigeria. It is the 419 Coalition view that the elites from
which the governing classes of Nigeria are drawn contain 419 Scammers
which can make it difficult for victims seeking recourse in these matters.
Monies stolen by 419 operations are very rarely recovered from Nigeria,
although the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) when
led by Nuhu Ribadu and Ibrahim Lamorde made some welcome progress
in that regard for several years prior to 2008.
Ribadu and Lamorde were, however, replaced by Mrs. Farida Waziri as head of the EFCC
in early 2008. Under her leadership, it is our view and the consensus of most counter-419ers
as we understand it, that the EFCC was not as active in counter-419 matters as it was
under Ribadu and Lamorde. 419 Coalition believes that EFCC performance in the area
of recovery and repatriation of 419ed monies was particularly bad under Waziri.
For example, in the Odiawa case, in which the EFCC was able to convict the 419er several
years ago, and the court ordered restitution of over a million dollars to the victim, the victim
has yet to see a dime to date - very disappointing. Mrs. Waziri was herself replaced
in November 2011.
Ibrahim Lamorde returned to the EFCC as Director of Operations in December 2010, and
replaced Waziri as Director of the EFCC in November 2011. 419 Coalition hopes that under
his leadership EFCC performance in arresting 419ers, convicting 419ers, and the recovery
and repatriation of 419ed funds will improve.
PLEASE DON'T SEND 419 COALITION A COPY OF THE 419 SOLICITATION YOU RECEIVED, we've seen tens of thousands already.
DO NOT RESPOND TO THE 419ER and DO FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS THAT APPLY TO YOU AS GIVEN IN THE "WHAT TO DO" SECTIONS BELOW (scroll way down)..
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.
Scroll down to our News section below for articles on 419 from 1996 to the present, and to our
Links ("Fighters") section for links to many other sites that deal with 419.
THE FIVE RULES FOR DOING BUSINESS WITH
NIGERIA
Courtesy of The 419 Coalition
1. NEVER pay anything up front for ANY reason.
2. NEVER extend credit for ANY reason.
3. NEVER do ANYTHING until their check clears.
4. NEVER expect ANY help from the Nigerian Government.
5. NEVER rely on YOUR Government to bail you out.
Ultrascan Advanced Global Investigations, a Netherlands - based firm which has been studying 419 matters since the mid -1990's, has prepared a report titled 419 Advance Fee Fraud Statistics each of the last few years. These stats are based on Ultrascan's in-house investigations and include, by nation: number of 419 rings; number of 419ers; income of the 419ers (the amount of losses by victims to the 419ers); and additional data. 419 Coalition view is that these stats present a reasonably conservative and realistic look at the extent and magnitude of 419 criminal operations worldwide. Ultrascan accompanied their compilation of 419 Statistics for 2005 with a Press Release that still serves as an excellent short summary of the modes of 419er operations. It stresses the need for Centralized counter-419 operations by country and for simplified reporting of 419 by country in order to control it.
And how to purchase them, including Brian Wizard's excellent "Nigerian 419 Scam: 'Game Over'!" and Will Ferguson's award-winning novel "419".
What To Do If You Receive A Nigerian Scam/419 Letter
[All information in the What To Do and the Additional Country Specific Reporting sections of this site is kept as current as possible. The most recent update of these sections of the site was done in DEC 2011]
1. DO NOT RESPOND TO THE 419 SOLICITATION.
2. Notify your Own Nation's National Law Enforcement Agency and your
Own Nation's Foreign Office.
3. File a Complaint with the Nigerian Embassy or High Commission in your nation. It used to be possible to email complaints and 419 materials in to the Central Bank of Nigeria and to the Nigeria Police, but those email addresses have not worked for some time.
5. 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. You may also file complaints
with watchdog type sevices like Spamcop to try and get the 419ers email accounts shut off by whatever ISP they are using -
Spamcop and other services like it will parse the headers of the 419 email and
try to see through forged information etc. to get back to the actual origin of the 419
email, which is often useful in these matters.
Please remember that it is important to include the message's full header
information. This is necessary for tracking the message's point of origin.
This extra information is not shown by default, and the method of displaying it
depends on the email resource you use. If you don't know how to display
full headers, please see the instructions in your mail program or website. (Note:
Many webpage-based email hosts include a "full headers" option link near the
top of the message.)
Some 419ers give different email addies in the body of their mail than the
one they sent from. You should complain to "abuse" etc. at those email providers
as well.
Additional Country Specific Reporting Instructions
Australia - Additional Country Specific Instructions - Australia
According to the West African Crime Section (WAOCS) in the UK, Australians
are to report 419 matters In Australia to their local police and to the Australian
West African Organized Crime Section at
er-waoc@afp.gov.au
You can also report 419 scams via Scamwatch, a service provided by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission of the Australian government.
Belgium - Additional Country Specific Instructions - Belgium
The Belgian Federal Police encourages everyone not to reply to these suspect emails. 419 emails received by Belgian citizens or which contain Belgian phone numbers or other Belgian information should be sent, with headers, in to the Belgian Federal Police at contact@fccu.be so the police can use these mails in further investigations.
Canada - Additional Country Specific Instructions - Canada
Regional
Offices of the RCMP Commercial Crime Branch are the proper places to
direct inquiries. The phone/fax numbers of the nearest CCB office are available
from any local detachment of the RCMP/GRC.
Also, in Canada, The Phonebusters National Call Centre (PNCC) is a joint
partnership involving the Ontario Provincial Police and the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police. Phonebusters is very interested in receiving copies of any 'new' versions of Nigerian letter schemes particularly those involving Canadian mailing addresses or telephone numbers.
You can email such 419 letters to them at info@phonebusters.com
Netherlands - Additional Country Specific Instructions - Netherlands
The Fraud Department of the National Criminal Intelligence Service of
the Netherlands is investigating worldwide fraudulent practices known as
the "Nigerian Advance Fee Fraud" or the "Nigerian 419 Fraud."
If you have suffered a Loss to 419 scammers operating from The Netherlands,
report the matter to the Dutch authorities at WACN@klpd.politie.nl. Please put APOLLO - LOSS in the subject line of your email.
You are also asked to file No Loss reports on 419 solicitations related to The Netherlands, particularly those containing a Dutch phone number, banking data, post address or other tangible data, to WACN@klpd.politie.nl. Please show the headers of forwarded 419 solicitations and put APOLLO - NO LOSS in the subject line and/or at the top of the body of the forwarded 419 solicitation.
For post/fedex, fax, and voice reporting, the information is:
Reference: Project Apollo (LOSS or NO LOSS)
Korps Landelijke Politiediensten
Postbus 3016
2700 KX Zoetermeer
The Netherlands
South Africa - Additional Country Specific Instructions - South Africa
You may fax all Scam documents referencing South Africa, especially those with phone numbers or banking information, to the Commercial Branch, South African Police Service, Head Office for attention Superintendent SC Schambriel at facsimile number +27 12 339 1202, telephone number + 27 12 339 1203 or e-mail hq.commercial@saps.org.za. Please mention whether or not you have incurred any financial loss.
The South African Police Service maintains a 419 Scams/Nigerian Letters
Alert on their website. They also have a counter-419 notice in their FAQ Section on the site. They
also used to show a short Anti-419 Pamphlet which was issued by and available from the South African Police
Service, Click Here.
United Kingdom - Additional Country Specific Instructions - United Kingdom
Basically, the UK has decentralized 419 reporting and does not want to hear from people unless there has been a loss or a UK bank account or phone number is given by the 419ers.
The complete instructions can be seen at the London Metropolitan Police website section concerning Nigerian 419 Advance Fee Fraud: http://www.met.police.uk/fraudalert/419.htm
United States - Additional Country Specific Instructions - United States
1. The United States Secret Service continues to be tasked as the primary US law
enforcement agency in dealing with Advance Fee Fraud (419) matters. NOTICE: EFFECTIVE
20 JUN 2007 THE SECRET SERVICE HAS ILL-ADVISEDLY AND SHORTSIGHTEDLY (our view, we're trying very hard not to use the word "Stupidly") TERMINATED ITS LONG-STANDING CENTRALIZED 419.fcd@usss.treas.gov NO-LOSS REPORTING ADDRESS. If you want to complain to USSS about this, here is their Public Affairs Section Comment Form, that might be useful. There is no point in hassling 419 Coalition about this situation. We ourselves are very upset about this matter and have already tried to get the centralized no-loss reporting address put back into service, to no avail.
4. American citizens concerned that they may be the victims of an international scam may also call the U.S. Department of State at (888) 407-4747 or the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate.
5. Anyone who has not suffered a loss, but who wishes report receipt of 419 "spam",
may forward the 419 solicitation they have received, with headers, to the Federal Trade Commission at spam@uce.gov for their database.
419 Coalition appreciates immensely the contributions of the media in fighting 419, as
publicity and education are two of the best ways currently available to fight 419.
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, when it existed, used to have spokesmen available for interviews, you could try 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.
Summary of Privacy Policy
419 Coalition tracks hits on this page, the "index page" of our site, which is the only page
on it we track.
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. For a full statement
of our Privacy Policy click here.
Thank you for visiting The 419 Coalition website. We hope that you have
found it useful.
Please inform us of non-working links and non-working email addresses.
