The 419 Nigerian Scam.

Ever heard of the 419 Nigerian Scam? If you are a regular internet user or have checked your emails or logged to a social network in the last 10years, you might have come across a message similar to the following:

“Greetings, my name is Miss Deborah (deborahmartins@yahoo.com), I saw your profile here on [social network e.g. facebook, tagged, Amunzi, badoo etc] and got interested. Am a young lady, never married, God fearing, caring, loving…..contact me via email so I can send you my photos……”

IT’S THE 419 NIGERIAN SCAM! Don’t fall for it

This is an attempted to trick you into sending money to the scammers, and believe it or not, some people fall for this, otherwise you wouldn’t be receiving such messages.

What exactly is a Nigerian Scam?

They are Caution! 419 Nigerian Scamcalled Nigerian scams because the first wave of them came from Nigeria, but they can come from anywhere in the world. The scams themselves violate section 419 of the Nigerian criminal code, hence the label “419 Scam.
The Nigerian government is not sympathetic to victims of these scams, since the victim actually conspires to remove funds from Nigeria in a manner that is contrary to Nigerian law.

 

How they attempt to get you

There are different methods in which these vultures try to dupe you into giving them your hard earned money.  Such as, but not limited to:

  • The love letter: You receive a letter or email (with photos of a very good looking woman) asking for a relationship.  After establishing a relationship, they ask you for money for their school fees, sick relatives, etc.
    For women, the scammer might sent you gifts, and then arrange to meet you. Something will come up at the last minutes and they will ask for your help. Another method used on women is “The stuck parcel.  See below”
  • Stuck Parcel Scam: They claim to have sent you a parcel, which unfortunately got stuck, e.g. customs. And you are asked to send money to retrieve it.
  • Money Transfer: The scammers will come up with some story (rich father, uncle, mention some million dollars blah blah blah) and will ask for a favor from you: Help transfer the money in your account and you get a commission.
  • The Rotary Scam: In this one, you are told you’ve won some lottery you never even took part in. e.g. you win a car. They tell you they can only cover part of the shipping cost and you have to cover the rest. Send that money and you never hear from them.
  • Recovery Scam: “The EFCC (or other authorities, usually Nigerian)” would like to compensate you for all the troubles you have gone through the hands scammers.”
    Here the scammer acts like they want to help you, at a fee of course.

 

What you and I do to fight this Nigerian Scam?

I receive these letters once in a while, meaning, for the scammers to keep sending such, then it’s working for them. These emails are sent in masses, hoping a few can respond. So whether you and I ignore them, somebody will eventually respond.

Remember, when dealing with these animals. They will be sending you professional documents, certificates, even have professional looking fake websites, e.t.c.

How can we help? Scam baiting

SCAM BAITING

This is where you enter a dialogue with the scammer pretending to be a victim (making a fool out of the scammer). Its quiet interesting, receiving or those forged documents, trying to learn their procedures, I have done it several times.
This method is actually encouraged, because as you keep the scammer busy, having them hoping you will send money, they will be engaged and won’t have that extra time to prey on a real victim.

You can try to get as much information as possible which can help the authorities in identifying the nigerian scam buggers.

Share This

Just share this article and through re sharing, someone might be saved from a being a victim of the 419 Nigerian Scam.

 

Are you an entrepreneur?

You can actually learn a few marketing tricks from these scammers. They send messages/emails with broken English, who can fall for that, right? Wrong, these buggers can speak and write good english, that’s actually a marketing strategy. I will cover a topic on this in another article. Just subscribe to the Newsletter below or like us on facebook so you don’t miss it.

 

Hope this article helped. Am out.

 

Oh, by the way, A friend of mine was a victim of the ”Stuck Parcel Scam.” She came to borrow money from me to recover the parcel, I told her it was a scam and refused to give her the money. Stubborn, she borrowed the money from somewhere else.  “You know yourself, and if your are reading this, I TOLD YOU SO”

 

Now am out.