It is estimated that as of 1996, over Five Billion US$ have been illegally gained from this scam.
The Scam works like this:
The target or “mark” receives an unsolicited fax, email containing either a money laundering or some other illegal proposal. Common variations on the Scam include “overinvoiced” or “double invoiced” oil or other supply and service contracts where your Bad Guys want to get the overage out of Nigeria; crude oil and other commodity deals; a “bequest” left you in a will” where your Bad Guy has a lot of currency that needs to be “chemically cleaned” before it can be used and he needs the cost of the chemicals; “spoof banks” where there is supposedly money in your name already on deposit; “paying” for a purchase with a check larger than the amount required and asking for change to be advanced; fake lottery; employment 419 (including secret shopper type work) ; and ordering items and commodities off “trading” and “auction” sites on the web and then cheating the seller.
The variations of Advance Fee Fraud (419) are very creative and virtually endless. There are many others out there that I have not listed.
At some point, the “mark” is asked to pay up front an Advance Fee of some sort, be it an “Advance Fee”, “Transfer Tax”, “Performance Bond”, or to extend credit, grant COD privileges, send back “change” on an overage cashier’s check or money order, whatever. If the “mark” pays the Fee, there are often many “Complications” which require still more advance payments until the “mark” either quits, runs out of money, or both. If the “mark” extends credit on a given transaction, he is responsible for those fees with NO effective recourse.
The Nigerian Scam is, according to published reports, the Third to Fifth largest industry in Nigeria. It is rumored to be the elites from which successive Governments of Nigeria have been made ARE the Scammers themselves, therefore the victims have little recourse in this matter. Monies stolen by 419 operations are almost Never Recovered from Nigeria.
Most 419 letters and emails originate from or are traceable back to Nigeria. However, some originate from other nations, mostly also West African nations such as Ghana, Togo, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, etc. In most cases 419 emails from other nations are also Nigerian in that the “Home Office” of the 419ers involved is Nigeria regardless of the source of the contact materials. But there are occasionally some “local” copycats trying to emulate the success of the Nigerians, generally not very successfully.