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.