The Prince of Nigeria scam, also known as “419 scam” is one of the notorious email scams that have been around for a long time but still very effective due to hitting the psyche of many people.
The scam scenario is that the bad guy contacts the victim via email, claiming to be a Nigerian prince or any wealthy government official who has a huge amount of money, but due to many reasons, that property stuck in water. So this person is looking for help in moving a large sum of money out of Nigeria, and is willing to pay handsomely in the amount of thousands or millions of dollars. But first, the victim will have to give them a small amount of money in advance to help “handle the trouble”.
Of course, the story is completely fabricated. Victims may have had their information stolen and seen by bad actors as potential prey. If you do, of course the victim will be scammed.
Interestingly enough, the Prince of Nigeria scam is one of the most obvious scams out there, yet it still manages to outmaneuver many people.
In order to convince the victim, the bad guys have devised many sophisticated methods to create a flashy cover such as impersonating many famous people in real life, creating a lifelike website with a foreign domain name, providing fake addresses, fax numbers and phone numbers. In addition, the scammer cleverly integrates his story with the current context.
Scams like these are known as the Prince of Nigeria scam or “419 scam” because the first wave of scams originated in Nigeria, and 419 is a provision of the Nigerian Penal Code that prohibits this type of fraud. .
Currently, scammers around the world are continuing to promote the “419 scam” as they take advantage of the growing unrest in the Republic of Niger (which sounds a lot like Nigeria). They email the victims. Still the same old motif, they claim to be high-ranking government officials stuck in the West African country, and are looking for help to move large sums of money out of the country, around million. If they successfully execute the transaction, they will divide the victim 30% of the amount. Emails from [email protected].
Although the story only changes from country to country, it is still amazingly effective at manipulating emotions and hitting people’s greed, trying to entice small deposits in advance for profit. greater benefit.
Nowadays, with the help of AI tools, it is easy for bad guys to get a fluent phishing email with good grammar. The bad guys are still using the classic Prince of Nigeria scam with trendy new stories, new technology and the right manipulative tactics.
This scam currently has many other versions such as scams with job offers, winning the lottery, buying and selling goods online, receiving gifts from abroad and remitted…
Therefore, users should always be cautious and vigilant, be suspicious of any offer that seems too good to be true.