Otherwise known as Category Number 1 below (“the con,” see Email Abuse: Cons, Attacks, Phish). 419 scams are in essence a type of advance-fee fraud that is conducted over email - offering a large payoff for a small amount of work.  If the victim “accepts,” he/she ends up fronting cash in the hopes of payoff that will never happen.

More personal than many of the other types of abusive email, the 419 scam is experiencing a comeback, experts think in part because of the recent earthquake in Haiti. According to Symantec’s February State of Spam and Phishing Report 419 cons are at the highest levels ever measured by the company.

While many pose the obvious question, who responds to these messages?, the answer is quite chilling: in 2009 alone victims lost a collective $9.3 billion to these scammers. That’s right, billion. To date we’ve dropped $41 billion on these guys, at a growth rate of 5% each year.

To all those who think this resurgence will be short lived and that the general public has “wisened up” – think again.  As always, be smart with your email:

1. NEVER provide personal or confidential information via email (e.g. bank numbers, addresses, social security numbers etc.)
2. If it sounds too good to be true IT PROBABLY IS – delete it. If your long lost uncle from the UK actually had left his entire inheritance in your name, wouldn’t they have a better way to contact you than that yahoo address of yours?