419: There's good news and there's bad news.
The 419 scam is alive and well, despite global efforts to stamp it out.
Out of a population of over 60 million, only 94 people have referred 419 or Nigerian Scam approaches to the UK's National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS). That's the good news. The bad news is that the average loss in each case is around GBP25,000 according to NCIS.
The latest variation has included setting up a fake website that looks like the website of a legitimate bank. The copy site has been taken down. The techniques used are precisely those warned about by Silkscreen Consulting in an interview with the BBC in April 1998. At that time, fraud over the internet was in its infancy and warnings were generally regarded as scaremongering.
But the simple fact is that 419 type scams are an invitation to the stupid and the greedy. It is a constant surprise that there are so many that fall victim.
The incidence of the 419 scam has become a plague with e-mail. The marginal cost per letter is nil. The scam has been going on for years, starting with letters sent by mail even before faxes became commonplace. Despite repeated reminders from the Central Bank of Nigeria that these frauds are bound to end in tears, people still fall for them.
A new service wants copies of as many 419 scam letters as it can get. But the critical information is not in the body of the letter, it is in the e-mail header. To help build the library of 419 letters, send the header of the letter and the body to419@spam-scams.com**The new service is from The Anti Money Laundering Network, parent of Vortex Centrum Limited, publisher of World Money Laundering Report: Online
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