What is it?

The 419-scam is one of the oldest electronic scams. It's usually initiated via email, where the victim is promised a substantial return or reward for a small upfront payment. Once the payment is made, the fraudster will either invent more reasons for the victim to make further payments or disappear.

419-scams usually involves massive amounts of money and seemingly prominent people. A typical example would be a “government official” claiming that they need to move funds (usually millions) to the victim’s country and that they need a valid bank account number to deposit the money. They will then promise the victim a large cut of this money in return for the favour of using their bank account. Once the victim responds favourably, they will invent some reason why he/she needs to first make a small payment to them – either as a show of good faith, administration fees or another made-up fee of some kind.

Warning signs

• There is usually some sense of urgency for the upfront “administration fee” to be paid.
• You don’t know the sender of the email, but they claim to have some sort of elevated social status.
• They claims that you have won a prize or lottery, or some sort of inheritance.
• They usually request payments to be made through a cash send channel, not a bank.
• All communication will be via email, and the sender will try to avoid telephonic or face-to-face conversations.

How can you protect yourself?

If you receive an email that seems suspicious, do not reply. The age-old principle of “if it seems too good to be true, it probably is” applies. Any time where massive returns are promised for little to no effort, there is likely a scam at play and your best option is to simply ignore it.