Victims Lost $9.3 Billion To Nigerian Scammers In 2009

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An advance-fee fraud is a confidence trick in which the target is persuaded to advance sums of money in the hope of realizing a significantly larger gain. The type also well-known as 419 fraud, Nigerian scam, Nigerian bank scam, or Nigerian money offer has blown up in 2009. In last year, the victims have lost more money in 419 scam than ever before. This is according to the latest analysis from Dutch investigation firm Ultrascan—a company that has been monitoring the activities of 419 scammers since 1996—which says that victims lost almost 50 percent more money in 2009 than 2008.

Via Arstechnica -

According to the firm, which analyzed 8,503 cases across 152 countries in 2009, victims lost $9.3 billion in the last year alone, compared to $6.3 billion on 2008. Although the majority of AFF is still organized by people living in Nigeria, it’s not always carried out by people there anymore—Ultrascan’s 225-page report says that a minimum of 51,761 scammers perpetrated their crimes from 69 other countries with another 250,000 doing so from Nigeria.

The major cause for explode in 419 scam was further explained as -

A major reason for the growth is that scammers are no longer simply sending their “proposals” to the US and Europe. China, India, South Korea, Vietnam, and other countries are falling prey to 419 scams en masse, it seems, though Ultrascan points out that people in different countries tend to fall for specific variations of the scam. For example, the Chinese tend to fall for lottery or cash-on-delivery scams, while those in India tend to fall for low-end job and student visa scams.

You can also read the PDF file on 419 Advance Fee Fraud Statistics 2009 in detail. The figure of $9.3 billion is really surprising as number of information on scammers available is just increasing day by day online, yet people fall for the scam. We need to work out on how to spot 419 scams and avoid falling for such cases for curbing the growth. Nevertheless, once victims stop blindly forking over cash, scammers would have to find out some other way to make money.