It is as amazing to me as it is to many of our readers that people can be fooled by the rather heavy-handed hoax that's been known for decades as the Nigerian Letter scam. Sadly, the various incarnations of this bunco scheme are enjoying a renaissance of sorts and the letter "is growing in its effectiveness" according to the United States Secret Service (no kidding).
TNCPer Kerry N. pointed me to the official Treasury page that warns about what it refers to as the international "4-1-9" fraud. It's referred to as "4-1-9" by our State Department after the section of the Nigerian penal code which addresses fraud schemes. Make no mistake, the Nigerian Letter is a very real scam and can have serious consequences for those who fall prey to it. According to the U.S. Treasury, "In June of 1995, an American was murdered in Lagos, Nigeria, while pursuing a 4-1-9 scam, and numerous other foreign nationals have been reported as missing."
For the complete official word on the 4-1-9 scam (which as we've
pointed out is not limited to Nigeria by any means) go to this
page:
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/506/tr.cgi?jim2
Well, try to go to that page. I've had it come up without a problem but other times I get a 404 error.
You can reach T.J. Lee at:
mailto:tj_lee@TheNakedPC.com
