Avoiding African Internet Scams

When you take a close look at African Internet scams (sometimes called 419 scams or Nigerian scams), it’s hard to believe that anyone would fall for them. And yet they do, and continue to do so. The Financial Crimes division of the Secret Service reports that 100 American victims per week fall victim to African internet scams. Senior citizens are especailly targeted.

How They Contact You

Not all internet scammers are from Africa, but many use the same scam techniques that are thought to originate from Nigeria. The scam itself has roots long in telephone and even snail mail days. Variations of it happened in countries all over the world. You used to be contacted in person, by letter or by phone. Now, you get contacted through email although some are still using the old snail mail standby. There are so many ways the scammer can get your email address, you can’t keep them from coming.

But you can ignore and delete them. Never click open any email that has an address that you can’t place. If the subject line of the email uses very strange grammar, that’s also another tip off that this is a scam spam. Also, do not click on the links of any strange windows that pop up in your browser screen.

According to the US Embassy in Ghana, some scammers will first contact you by email, then phone and then make a very convincing argument to travel to Ghana. Any foreigner traveling to any African country should beware of any offers of easy money from the locals, even if they speak well, dress like a bank manager and seem to have offical documents.

The Hook

The content of the email varies, but the main message is to either send your bank account number or send a “small fee” to a certain address. They could use any of these lines:

1. “You’ve been left a fortune from someone in Africa. To get rid of inheritance taxes, just send us a processing fee.
2. A disgustingly rich African needs to keep some funds in an American account hidden until the tax man goes by. Can he hide his billions in your account? All we need is the account number.”
3. “You’ve won So and So’s internet security lottery. Please give us your account number so we can deposit your winnings safely and without delay.

You don’t need to be an expert in online security to see this scam coming. They are especially easy to sniff out when the advance free fraud proposals are in poor English, in US dollars, grammar that seems like its being tortured, and block capitals. They always urge you to act promptly because of “a statue of limitations”.

Protecting Yourself

The best thing you can do with these emails is delete them and then delete your delete file in your email program. But sometimes these spam emails contain malicious software (malware) that can still do your computer and data some damage. This is why you need to be protected before going surfing on the world wide web.

You need the latest versions of your computer security software, including a spam filter. You also need the latest version of your operating platform and just about any other software you use online. You need the latest version because it will have the most up to date security measures on them.

If you feel you have been the victim of a 419 scam, please contact the Internet Crime Complaint Center. References:

Embassy of the United States of Accra, Ghana: “Internet Fraud 419 Scams.” http://ghana.usembassy.gov/419-scam.html

ABC News. “Secret Service Counters Nigerian Scams.” http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=82716&page;=1

First State Bank of Wyoming. “Consumer Alert: The Magnitude of Consumer Fraud.” http://www.wyoming-bank.com/default.aspx?v=cd0ac2e7-d5c7-417b-901b-25aa73942525

Reference:

• www.justice.gov/criminal/cybercrime/reporting.htm
• www.iwar.org.uk/ecoespionage/resources/4-1-9/secret-service-alert.htm
• www.fbi.gov/scams-safety/fraud/fraud