The Nigerian Advence Fee Scam

What happens if someone offers you US Dollar 5 million free ? All you need to do is to forward your bank details to a civil servant or descendant of a presidential/royal family so that a huge unaccounted sum lying in govt exchequer / bank vault can be deposited in your bank account. You get a cut of 5 million dollars just for allowing these guys to make use of your bank account.

It sounds crazy and perhaps 99% people, when presented with the offer, will laugh away or remark 'Hey ! one more trickster’. However, there is 1% who doesn’t think so (and need this article).

What is Nigerian Scam ?

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 Nigerian Scam has been around for quite some time, but despite many warnings people continue to get attracted towards it. What's more - its no longer based in Nigeria but have proliferated to countries in Western Africa, South Africa, South East Asia and even Europe

Even more alarming, the advance fee scam now comes in the disguise of agency agreement, letter of credit, lucrative order and even fake bank drafts. Indications are that the fraud grosses hundreds of millions of dollars annually and the losses are continuing to escalate