For most recipients of e-mail, the Nigerian Spam scam is a familiar sight. The scam - which usually results in some person getting their bank account cleaned out - has been around for more than 20 years.

It usually comes in from a so called Nigerian official or dignitary and the typical story line is that the sender has access to a huge amount of cash but needs a foreign account to have access to it. The sender then promises a percentage to the person should he help him. This particular scam is known as a 4-1-9 scam after the Nigerian penal code which deals with fraud.

Here is a sample of a scam I received not too far back

Lagos, Nigeria

Attention: The President/CEO

Dear Sir,

Confidential Business Proposal

Having consulted with my colleagues and based on the information gathered from the Nigerian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, I have the privilege to request your assistance to transfer the sum of $65,500,000.00 (Sixty-Five Million, Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) into your accounts.

The above sum resulted from an over-invoiced contract, executed and paid for about five years (5) ago by a foreign contractor. This action was however intentional and since then the fund has been in suspense account at the Central Bank of Nigeria Apex Bank.

We are ready to transfer the fund overseas and that is where you come in. It is important to inform you that as civil servants, we are forbidden to operate a foreign account. That is why we require your assistance. The total sum will be shared as follows: 75% for us, 20% for you and 5% for local and international expenses incident to the transfer.

The transfer is risk free on both sides. I am an accountant with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation ( NNPC). If you find this proposal acceptable, we shall require the following documents:

(A) Your Banker’s name, telephone, account and fax numbers

(B) Your private Telephone and Fax numbers- for confidentiality and easy communication.

(C) Your letterhead paper stamped and signed

Alternatively we will furnish you with the text of what to type into your letterhead paper, along with a breakdown explaining, comprehensively what we require of yoy. The business will take thirty (30) working days to accomplish.

Please reply urgently.

Best Regards

This scam can not only be dangerous to your finances but physically as well. Victims are requested to travel to Nigeria or a border country to complete a transaction. They are told a visa would not be necessary and custom officials are bribed to let the victim through. Once inside the victim is coerced to transfer all funds. That’s the last anyone sees of the victim.

This is what Mitchell Zukoff has to say in the New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/060515fa_fact).

One would have thought that after years of public awareness, people would be suspicious of such scams and not respond to them. Not so. It seems that there are more variations to the scam then one can think of.

One such letter claims to come from a U.S. Special Forces commando who purports to have found $36 million in drug money while conducting a covert search-and-destroy mission against the Taliban. The "commando" says he has stashed the cash in luggage, but wants to keep it in someone else's bank account "for safekeeping."

Another offer comes from a man who claims he was delivering a large sum of cash to the World Trade Center on the day it collapsed. Although he escaped from the building, his colleagues believe that he is dead. He kept the cash, kept a low profile and is in great need of a bank account to quietly deposit the money.

Emails come from all over the world. The last one I received was from the Philippines.

Recently scammers have turned ingenious. While the Email scams persist, a lot of them come through dating sites like mate1 and match.com. Once a contact is made the conversation usually shifts to yahoo messenger though even here they do approach women directly. One lady “D” whom I have personally known was approached through Yahoo Messenger. As the conversation progressed she was given details of phone numbers to call and bank accounts to give. Surprisingly and this lady has brains but she did give out her telephone numbers and address. Fortunately that was all and though she was pestered for more she was bright enough to block him.

Why do Americans fall for these scams? Some say scams like the 419 take advantage of our better nature; the goodness in us to help others. Others say they simply play on American greed, the dream of getting rich overnight.

But if any of you receive these emails or are contacted through a dating site ask yourself two questions:

1. Why would a perfect stranger pick you :— also a perfect stranger — to share a fortune with and,

1. Why would you share your personal or business information, including your bank account numbers or your company letterhead or otherwise, with someone you don't know?