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The “Nigerian 419 fraud” is the most infamous scam in this category. The ‘419’ part of the name comes from the section of Nigeria’s Criminal Code which outlaws the practice. Initially, the scammer will contact you by e-mail, fax letter or Social media claiming it’s from a high-ranking government official from a West African country (mostly from Nigeria). The message usually marked “urgent” or “in strictest confidence” and offering you a share in a large sum of money or a payment on the condition you help them to transfer their ‘trapped’ funds out of their country. Scammers may ask you to pay fees or your bank account details to ‘help them transfer the money’ as a bank, lawyer, government agency or other organization requires some fees to be paid before the money can be moved.
Once they have your banking information, the scammers might use this information to steal your funds. If you have sent any payments to them via any money transfer service you will lose the fees you paid and you will be at risk of identity theft.
Don’ts
- Never send money or give credit card details, account details or copies of personal documents to anyone you don’t know.
- Never agree to transfer money for someone else. The money you are sending might use for illegal activities or money laundering.
- If you get a call or email from someone is claiming to be from a particular organization (like a legal firm, Bank, government offices etc..) and asking for your personal or financial details, always verify the genuineness by contacting the relevant organisation directly over phone and never use the contact details provided in the message sent to you. Find the organization details through their website or other phone directories like yellow pages.
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