The modern version of the Spanish prisoner scam is the Nigerian 419 scam, named after the article in the penal code that it violates.
"For those of you unfamiliar with this email scam, the basic idea is simple. Somebody purporting to be a Nigerian banker contacts you, offering a chance to earn some serious money. Often his bank will be looking after the considerable fortune of a deceased millionaire - from shipping magnate to former president. He says he needs a foreign bank account through which to launder the money - and in return for sending him your bank details for this purpose, he will give you a share of the spoils.
Of course those who fall for this scam never see these promised millions. Instead their bank accounts are often cleaned out once they have handed over all their details - which include bank account numbers, copies of their passport and drivers licence and phone and fax numbers - it is a simple identity theft, dressed up with a tempting lure for the gullible."
[To read more about the history of this scam, click here]
The magazine Silicom.com has an interesting article where one of their writers replied, just to see what happened. (The quotes above are taken from this article). The correspondence that follows is quite interesting.
| Africa | Identity Theft | Scams |
I received this scam by email about a half dozen times in the course of a month last summer. I did a google search and discovered the scam.
It was supposed to be a noble deed, to right some kind of wrong. I was supposed to be honored to be trusted enough by this guy to do this for him, and someone important was going to be forever in my debt.
He was taking me into his confidence, hence the term "con."
David
