Mr. Sankar is a retired executive from a public sector undertaking received a mail from an unknown person, Mr. Michael asking for my assistance in retrieving five hundred million looted U.S. dollars for a twenty-five percent reward. Excitement raced through him. Sankar requested for more information. Second e-mail provided him a phone number. An ‘attorney’ in the UK told him that he would receive twenty installments of twenty-five million dollars, deposited into my bank account biweekly. All he needed to do was pay twenty-five thousand dollars in expenses and up-front fees (advance fee).

Sankar patiently waits for the booty, it doesn’t come. He calls up the the UK number desperately only to hear Michael saying money is stuck in Delhi Airport and he needs more money to get it released. Unsuspecting Sankar sends some more money to the account number provided by Michael. Sankar continues to wait for his booty even today…..! Sankar is scammed.

Warning signs of a 419 Nigerian Advanced Fee Fraud Scam email

• A promise to share or transfer millions of dollars to you for your help or participation.(Out of 6 billion people in the world you were singled out as this fortunate person, lucky you…!).
• The e-mail or correspondence is marked "urgent," "top secret" or "highly confidential" and demands you act immediately. (Time is commonly of the essence).
• The sender claims to be an exiled Dignitary, Cabinet Member, General, CEO, CFO, lawyer, doctor or the heir of some other important person or top official to gain your confidence. (The Grifter usually uses a Hotmail, Yahoo, Netscape or other such free and anonymous e-mail service to send you the message - not very Legal at all).
• Claims to have obtained your e-mail address "during a personal research on the Internet" or from an unidentified "friend who was once on diplomatic mission.
• The proposal contains a seemingly unlikely situation, i.e. overpaid millions on a contract, royal money or assets frozen by a foreign government, an inheritance, or money, gold or diamonds that need to immediately be transferred or be lost forever.
• Seeks an "honest foreign partner" to help with them with their crisis situation. (As if none exist or can be found in their own country).
• States they are working with an unidentfied "Security Company" or the "Central Bank of Nigeria"
• Requests personal information from you, i.e. your full name, bank account information and routing numbers, home or business telephone and facsimile numbers, or a copy of your letterhead.

Tips to Avoid 419 Advance Fee Fraud

• The best tip is to DELETE any mail from a stranger which resembles the mails we described above.
• Same mail may be forwarded to the service provider’s mail ID like abuse@yahoo.com, abuse@hotmail.com depending on the senders mail ID..
• Similarly you can forward the mail before you junk it to local police email ID if they have any