Nigerian Scam

Nigerian Scam

Nigerian scams (also called Nigerian 419 scams), are a type of advance fee fraud and one of the most common types of confidence frauds in which the victim is defrauded for monetary gain.

There are many variations on this type of scam, including advance fee fraud, Nigerian Letter Fifo's Fraud, Spanish Prisoner Scam, black money scam, or Detroit/Buffalo scam. The number "419" refers to the article of the Nigerian Criminal Code dealing with fraud. The scam has been used with fax and traditional mail, and is now used with the internet.

While the scam is not limited to Nigeria, the nation has become associated with this fraud and it has earned an unenviable reputation for being a center of email scam crimes. In fact, the top three nations of origin of these scams are the United States, the United Kingdom, and Nigeria (in that order). Other nations known to have a high incidence of advance fee fraud include Côte d'Ivoire, Togo, South Africa, the Netherlands, and Spain.