419 scams are any scam where you are promised something highly valuable but have to pay small charges to get to that valuable item. These are often carried out by Nigerians – or people claiming to be Nigerian.

Typical examples include someone claiming to have lots of gold and just needs to ship it to your address and you get to keep a big percentage or maybe lots of cash in a bank box that you just need to send in proof of identity and pay some small fees to get the box.

The scammers like to stick to their play as it has been very successful for them, but they do improvise around the central theme.

One latest variant claims to be from the United Nations Police (but uses a Gmail email account)

“We hereby inform you that the Scotland Yard Police, Interpol, federal Bureau of Investigation, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission of Nigeria and all the African crime fighters leaders have come together to stop scam/Internet fraud in Nigeria and all around west Africa. We have recovered over US $2.6 Bn from the people who we have behind bars.”

There really are assorted Police actions in progress in Nigeria to stop scammers but this one described is simply made up.

The email then gives a long list of scammer’s names and scam company names and says they are behind the non-release of your funds.

Lots more details and the statement that there is $5 million waiting for you to collect – you just need to supply some personal confidential information and pay $350 to a Doctor Richard Kelly.

I certainly won’t be replying to these scammers. Money for nothing is always a scam.

If you have any experiences with scammers, spammers or time-waster do let me know, by email.

I am exhorted to “Hurry Up and Contact Your Agent for Your $11 Million Dollars Consignment Box Immediately”.

This is supposedly cash to be delivered to me by the World Bank.

The email claims to be from the World Bank but is in fact from scottanderson929 @gmail.com which is a private email address.

There is a lengthy email explaining about the various bodies that make up the World Bank group, then it claims that due to my ‘horrible experience and losses’ they have discovered I have lost so much money trying to receive my funds but could not succeed. The grammar is strange as in so many of these scam messages.

The scammers seem to assume that so many people have now been scammed by them that they can send this sort of rubbish out in mass mailings and try to scam those people again with a story about how they have been deceived and are due compensation.

Some people fall for these 419 scams i.e. the promise of a fortune and a ridiculous story to explain the unexpected wealth but it seems unlikely such people would be dumb enough to get caught out a second time with essentially the same story, but maybe some do.

To claim the money I have to send an email to a different private email account with my name, address, date of birth, photo, occupation etc.  The usual information that scammers want for phishing emails and identity theft.

The email then goes into details about how the agent will travel to my home to personally deliver the consignment of $100 bills. E.g. it will be in an unbranded carboard box to hide its value.

All pathetic rubbish – the World bank don’t send money to people – they only deal with governments.

The catch in the scam is that I have to arrange to pay the $200 delivery fee. Sounds pretty cheap for someone to cross the Atlantic to deliver to my home when any sane person would simply do a money transfer.

Promises of a fortune are always scams.

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This is a simple scam trying to lead you to believe there is a fortune available for you – if you just follow the instructions.

But, this scammer weaves a pointlessly complicated story and uses strange phrasing.

“This is to intimate you of a very important information which will be of a great help to redeem you from all the difficulties you have been experiencing in getting your long over due payment.”

The sender claims to be a high official at the International Monetary Fund, but oddly can only use a Gmail personal email account.

She claims that a long list of organisations (NGOs, Banks, security companies, courier companies etc.) have been taking advantage of me by demanding various payments to release the $10.7 million that I am due.

There’s no reason provided as to why the IMF owes me such a lot of money, but then she doesn’t even know my name.

She says she has stopped all of those organisations from pestering me anymore (not that any of them ever have).

She is now in charge of ensuring I receive the millions of dollars and to prove her emails are genuine she will include the secret code (code:1207) in any future emails.

I guess that guarantees she is legitimate. NOT!

She also lists lots of names of people who have supposedly cheated me as they are corrupt and evil according to her.

Then a long story about someone named Donna Hewberling who visited the IMF and claimed I was dead and had given her power of attorney to collect my money.

Then more secret codes e.g.

“The Payment, United Nation Approval No; UN5685P, White House Approved No: H44CV, Reference No.-35460021, Allocation No: 674632 Password No: 339331, Pin Code No: 55674 and your Certificate of Merit Payment No: 103, Released Code No: 0763; Immediate (IMF) Telex confirmation No: -1114433; Secret Code No: XXTN013.”

And so it goes on for pages.

Seems that the scammer got carried away with her own words.

Pathetic.

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There are endless 419 scam messages i.e. those offering some fortune in cash or diamonds or gold etc. and a long winded ridiculous story of why they have that fortune for you.

The scam works by getting you to pay small sums of money to release the fortune and paying again and again until you realise it’s a scam and stop.

Some scammers moved on to trying to catch out people who have already been stung by this scam, by sending out emails claiming the people responsible have been caught and now you will really get the fortune owed to you.

All lies of course.

This latest scam claims to be from the World Bank although the sender’s email address is a personal Gmail address.

It says that your problems are over because you have been issued with security Identification IFC09-WB2021-17CCXX65(PIN2001)/ ATM CARD

The ATM card had supposedly been loaded with $10.5 million and will be sent anywhere you want it to go.

That would be a very stupid way of sending money to someone. Would you trust $10.5 million to the post?

The email is addressed to Dear beneficiary i.e. they have no idea of the people’s names they are sending the emails to.

Hence the email then asks for your name as well as address, occupation, contact details etc.

All good information to sell to identity thieves.

Pathetic lies.

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This is another 419 scam i.e. the scammer promises a fortune in cash or diamonds or gold etc. and to get it you just have to follow some simple instructions. There is no fortune of course.

In this case, the scammer claims to be Janet L. Yellen of the United States Treasury.   It is true that Mrs Yellen is the genuine United States secretary of the treasury, but the scammer who sent the message is not her.

“This is to inform you that your courier service delivery man carrying your consignment box containing an ATM card valued $10Million dollars is now at the Washington Dulles International Airport”

That is to get my attention, then there is a long story about something called the “West Africa corrupt Government agency” that supposedly has mishandled getting me the money I am owed.

There’s no explanation as to why anybody owes me $10 million.

Then it goes on about the delivery man is carrying a tamper proof metal consignment box that weighs 110 Kg and contains the ATM card worth $10 million for me.

I am supposed to provide instructions for how the delivery man can get from Dulles to the nearest airport to me.   Does he not have a smart phone to look it up and why is he sitting at Dulles airport instead of in an office?

The point of this scam email is to get my confidential information so there’s a list of information I have to provide, starting with my name, which of course the scammer doesn’t know.

The email starts with Dear consignment owner and the sender’s email address shows as United States Department of The Treasury but is actually a Gmail address for the name Barry Dunderbolt14

Sorry Dunderbolt – your scam is pathetic as anyone would realise there are numerous safer and easier ways to give someone money than sending a delivery man with a 110Kg metal box thousands of miles.

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Advance Fee scams, also known as 419 scams are highly prevalent, especially by scammers in Nigeria who operate this scam on an industrial scale.

There are many variations, but it is a simple scam – they offer a fortune of some kind, then when someone falls for the bait, they have an elaborate story about how they have got or will get the money and need just a little help in getting the money out of their country or away from the bank etc.

Once a victim is hooked, then a series of small payments are needed to get the fortune.

Of course, there is no fortune, just a victim who will be conned repeatedly until he or she realises it’s fake and that there is no fortune.

This latest email is a very simple one with no effort to look realistic, but sadly these can still attract some people desperate for money.

The sender claims to be in the U.S. Marine Corps and recently was part of an operation in Asia and netted a lot of money in a raid on the opposition. (You can see this is deliberately vague so the scammer doesn’t have lots of details to remember).

Now, she needs a man or woman to help her repatriate the money and will pay a large percentage for that.

Strangely, this scam also goes down the romance route as she claims to want to find a man to have a long term relationship with.

Confused as that is – that’s all the information in the message.

She asks for a photo by return and wants to talk by Whatsapp only.

This has all the hallmarks of a large scale scam operation with each scammer no doubt dealing with perhaps dozens of victims at a time.

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