You Won the International Lottery!
A Nigerian Widow Needs Your Help!

How to Recognize and Avoid Advanced Fee Email Scams

By one estimate, 90-95% off all daily email traffic is spam. Only seven years ago, the amount was around 5%. Though promises to increase a certain part of your anatomy is still the bulk of obvious unsolicited email, there is an alarming increase of messages that can do you genuine harm, both financial and physical, if you become a victim. Knowing the tactics scammers use to steal your money will help you avoid these emails in the first place, and relegate them to where they belong - in your junk folder.

The Nigerian 419 Scam

Advance fee scams have been around since at least the 16th century. From telegrams in the late 19th century, to postal letters, fax and now email, these scams promise big riches with little effort. They prey on most people's desire to gain money for doing nearly nothing.

The most common (and, unfortunately, successful) is the Nigerian 419 scam, so called because it arose among unemployed university students in Nigeria in the early 1980's during the economic decline there. 419 refers to the section of the Nigerian criminal code on scams. The scam is now worldwide, though a majority still come from Nigeria.

The premise is usually a plea from a widow or relative of a millionaire or dictator who has left millions of dollars in a locked bank account. She needs your help to transfer the money, and in thanks you will get to keep a portion, usually several million dollars. To help, she will need you to transfer some money for bribes, bank expenses, etc. This is the "advance fee" portion - you send them money first.

As the scam advances, you will be asked for more and more money - either the bribe didn't work or other unexpected expenses arose. By the time you realize you've been fleeced, several hundred or even thousand dollars could have been stolen.

In many cases, this scam has lead to suicide, personal bankruptcies, and ransom and murder if the victims actually fly to the country chasing promises of cash.

International Lotteries

Congratulations, you have won the lottery! The email asks for confirmation, and to phone or email the "lottery official," for more information. This is another common email scam, and the tactics of scamming you out of money is similar to the Nigerian fraud.

If you look carefully at the email, it will not only ask for your name and residence (if you really won, wouldn't they know this?), but also your age and occupation. Asking the details of your age and occupation gives the thieves enough information they need to set up the fraud against you. If you are a senior or your occupation amounts to a high paycheck, they will ask for more money as an administration fee, as statistically they know they can potentially fleece you for more.

Once you are sucked in, they will ask for money to cover the expenses, taxes, or money transfer fees. You will then get an email or phone call saying that, unfortunately, you didn't win the main prize, but with another (usually greater) fee, you will be entered into a secondary prize, still worth millions of dollars and with greater chances of winning.

This same tactic continues, and if you are communicating through phone, the caller will likely be a very professional and slick salesman, using psychological tactics to increase your morale and excitement at the dreams of finally winning. The end result is the same - your hard-earned savings disappear.

Fake Romance and Friendship

Scammers constantly set up fake profiles at dating sites, hoping to lure unsuspecting victims into a relationship. Once they begin a romance or friendship, they will ask to continue their meetings via email or even phone - this is to prevent the dating site from finding them out and alerting the victim. Through emotional manipulation, they will worm their way into their victim's heart. This is especially popular among identity thieves, who are in a position to easily collect your personal information to commit identity theft.

The day will quickly come when they wish to take the relationship further. However, they can not afford the plane ticket. Here is the advance fee fraud in action. As the fraudster can now tug at their victim's sympathies, they can do anything creative to continue the scam - a sudden medical accident, the bribing of border officials if they live in a corrupt country, the need to escape imprisonment, etc. If the scammer is really confident, he or she may even incorporate the Nigerian angle, entrusting the person to a secret of being in possession of millions of dollars in a locked bank account or owning valuable land. In all cases, they will need money for land transfer fees, bribes, bank expenses, etc.

This scam is incredibly brutal for the victim, who will not only lose their life savings, but also must deal with the emotional turmoil of having his or her heart broken and coldly manipulated.

Scammers are becoming increasingly sophisticated and cunning, using the principles of social engineering and psychology to trick unwary (and even wary) folks. Only by keeping up with the latest scams and techniques can you protect yourself. As with anything in life, heed the warning - if it is too good to be true, it probably is!