History Main / FourOneNineScam

The advance fee fraud, known colloquially as the '''419 scam''', is a form of Internet fraud commonly associated with UsefulNotes/{{Nigeria}} (hence its alternative name, the Nigerian scam). The character is contacted by someone who claims (in [[DelusionsOfEloquence suspiciously shaky English]]) to have a large sum of money which is rightfully his but which he cannot access for various reasons (sealed account, locked trust fund, etc.), and he needs the mark's help to be able to access it. If he helps out, he'll get a substantial share of the money, which could be millions of dollars. To do this, the scammer typically needs the mark's own bank account to help him transfer the money, and he needs some of the mark's own money in advance to help authorize the transfer, bribe officials, or do anything else the scammer can think of. But the money doesn't exist; once the scammer gets the mark's money or access to his bank account, he cuts off all contact. It's basically the "Spanish Prisoner" scam for the Internet age.

In RealLife, the term "419 scam" derives from Section 419 of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigerian_Criminal_Code Nigerian Criminal Code]], which prohibits fraud and details the punishments and penalties that await fraudsters. However, it's used to refer to all scams of this kind, even when they don't involve Nigeria or bank accounts at all. The RealLife workings of this trope are explained in greater detail on the [[Analysis/FourOneNineScam Analysis page]]. But to be a trope, it helps to use shorthand, and that's why it nearly always involves a Nigerian with a big bank account he can't access. This Nigerian is also often a prince, even though Nigeria is a republic and not a monarchy (not that the mark would be expected to know this), [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigerian_traditional_rulers although it does have traditional ceremonial "princes"]] (not that the mark would be expected to know that either).

* Ratbert fell for one in a ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'' strip. Of course, since the banking information he provided was "My bank is a tube sock that fell behind the dryer", the man on the other end of the scheme couldn't steal any money from him.

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* Ratbert fell for one in a ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'' strip. Of course, since the banking information he provided was "My bank is a tube sock that fell behind the dryer", the man on the other end of the scheme couldn't steal any money from him.
* Used in a ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'' strip. Andy is wise to the scam, Roger not so much.
-->'''Roger''': Andy, delete it, it's a total scam.\\
'''Andy''': Gee, you think?\\
'''Roger''': Yup. I'm getting $20 million from a Ugandan for $350.\\
'''Andy''': This is where you say "just kidding..."
[[/folder]]

* In one episode of ''Blog/TextsFromSuperheroes'', [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] [[http://textsfromsuperheroes.com/post/178805902427/prince falls for one]].

'''Harley:''' [[WhatAnIdiot You got his e-mail, too?!]]

* In ''VideoGame/HypnospaceOutlaw'', a Hypnospace user sends the player character an e-mail. He claims that a rich person will grant him a submarine if he gathers enough [[FictionalCurrency Hypnocoin]] in time, which would allow him to hunt for treasure that he'd really share with the donors. [[spoiler:He's serious. If you choose to donate to him, he actually acquires a submarine and sets off to find the treasure; he posts his coordinates to Hypnospace, which end up being his last known location before going missing.]]

* One ''ComicStrip/KnightsOfTheDinnerTable'' strip deals with one of the Knights recieving a Nigerian banking scam email. HilarityEnsues.

* Referenced in ''Fanfic/TheKarmaOfLies'' by Lila, who compares it to her own methods. Much like this type of scam, her more over-the-top {{Celebrity Lie}}s deliberately strain credibility in order to see who falls for them, allowing her to identify both easy marks and which ones require a little more ''finesse''.

In RealLife, the term "419 scam" derives from the relevant section of the Nigerian criminal code, since believe it or not this ''is'' a crime in Nigeria. However, it's used to refer to all scams of this kind, even when they don't involve Nigeria or bank accounts at all. The RealLife workings of this trope are explained in greater detail on the [[Analysis/FourOneNineScam Analysis page]]. But to be a trope, it helps to use shorthand, and that's why it nearly always involves a Nigerian with a big bank account he can't access. This Nigerian is also often a prince, even though Nigeria is a republic and not a monarchy (not that the mark would be expected to know this), [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigerian_traditional_rulers although it does have traditional ceremonial "princes"]] (not that the mark would be expected to know that either).

* One ''ComicStrip/KnightsOfTheDinnerTable'' strip deals with one of the Knights recieving a Nigerian banking scam email. HilarityEnsues.

* Manages to reach ''Equestria'' in ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/109516/dear-friend Dear Friend,]]'' within the [[Fanfic/TriptychContinuum Triptych Continuum]]. Spike fires off a series of ersatz scrolls after ingesting some "griffon-made canned lunch meat", one of which is clearly based on a classic 419. It involves the previously-unsuspected son of Sombra, twenty million bits deposited in Ponyville, and a request to help free the money so it can be used for retaking the homeland after the actions of the maniacal Preencess Celestia and the knownownown insane killer unicorn, Twilight Sparkle. (The scroll is filled with similar errors, including "horsepital" and "proponysal".) And just to top it off, it's signed "Sucker Bet".

* ''Fanfic/TheBoltChronicles'': Subverted in “The Autobiography,” when a message from a Nigerian prince shows up in Penny’s email inbox. Penny deletes it, but it turns out the offer is genuine and she misses out on a big payday.

* The direct-to-DVD film ''Film/EZMoney'' is based around this; the film's tagline is "The Nigerian e-mail scam gets scammed."

* In ''Literature/OurDumbWorld'', the first page on Nigeria is taken up by a scam letter. A sidebar illustrates the educational system which teaches Nigerians how to send mass e-mail in the "Computers 419" course.
* In the short story "Our Man in Geneva Wins a Million Euros" by Creator/PetinaGappah, the protagonist falls for one of these scams. Less typically, both the victim and the scammer are people of African origin living in Europe.
* In ''[[Literature/MonsterHunterInternational Monster Hunter Vendetta]]'', this and other Internet scams are mentioned as being sent by [[OurTrollsAreDifferent actual mythical trolls]].
* The protagonist of ''Literature/ZooCity'' creates these scams to pay off her remaining debts from her junkie days. [[spoiler:When she's finally out of debt, she informs all her remaining victims that it's a fraud, then falsely implicates her ex-boyfriend (whom she despises) in running the scam.]]
* The epilogue of ''Literature/HaltingState'' features an apparent 419 scam email addressed to the book's villain. [[spoiler:Given what we know at the end of the book, the email could be taken at face value, indicating that the villain stashed his ill-gotten gains in a Nigerian bank.]]

* Bob Howard of ''Literature/TheLaundryFiles'' recalls in a footnote the one time he decided to respond to one of the innumerable 419 messages he gets in his inbox. [[NoodleIncident He doesn't go into much detail]], aside from noting that Laundry Internal Security were less than amused and made him give back their bank.
* ''419'' by Will Ferguson is named after and centers on one of these scams. Laura Curtis' father, Henry, dies in a car crash after getting ensnared in one, and she goes to Nigeria looking to bring the perpetrator to justice. [[spoiler:Said perpetrator was taught to try to exploit latent or active WhiteGuilt in his targets, but they [[StrawHypocrite don't even believe it]].]]

* ''[[http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/okorafor_11_16/ Afrofuturist 419]]'' by Creator/NnediOkorafor has a Nigerian astronaut trapped on a SpaceStation being the subject of a FourOneNineScam InSpace
* ''Literature/AkataWitch'' has an offhand comment that Leopard people run magical 419 scams stealing from peoples' accounts.

* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' had Music/KatyPerry as a guest star who played an extremely gullible girl who fell for one of these.
* The ''Series/VeronicaMars'' episode [[ShoutOut "The Wrath of Con"]] features two college students pulling off a scam based on this in order to raise money for the video game they're making. The "sealed account" is the students' trust fund.

* In Season 2, Episode 2 of ''Series/FlightOfTheConchords'', Murray invests the band's last remaining emergency funds with with a Nigerian man named Nigel Seladu, who contacted him by e-mail. While Bret and Jermaine are confident it's a scam, it turns out to be legitimate, and the band uses the money to pay their rent and bail themselves out of jail for prostitution.
* A sketch on ''Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook'' had three wealthy brothers phoning up members of the public to give them a free "''massive'' yacht," provided they paid off a few legal fees. Naturally, they were quite confused that nobody was interested in their free yachts despite their "warm and reassuring" (that is: robotic and automated-sounding) voices and the insignificance of the legal fees when compared to the value of a ''massive'' yacht.
** In a later episode, the same characters were excited to give the millionth visitor to their website a free ''massive'' yacht, but since the popup link they personally sent looked suspiciously like a scam this too was rejected, much to their shock.
* Invoked in the pilot episode of ''Series/{{Leverage}}'', duly titled "The Nigerian Job". The mark is told that he's receiving an offer for a contract with the Nigerian government, but is suspicious in part because "it's like those email scams with Nigerian bank fraud letters." [[spoiler:Which was exactly what Nate wanted him to think. In fact, the men the mark met really ''were'' Nigerian officials, and the mark ends up in serious hot water with the FBI.]]
* Michael Scott on ''Series/{{The Office|US}}'' has been mentioned to support "about twenty Nigerian princesses".

* Played with in ''Series/{{Community}}'': Abed's Internet friend Toby is a banker who works in Nigeria. He had financial difficulties, so Abed sent him 700 pounds and a plane ticket. Britta is about to break the news to Abed that he was scammed, when Toby shows up and gives Abed back his money. He then complains that of all the people he contacted, only Abed was willing to help him.
* In ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'', Sheldon gets all his items hijacked from his ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' account by a hacker, and Raj finds someone online "from Nigeria" who claims that he can retrieve all the items "for a fee".
* In ''Series/OneThousandWaysToDie'', a Nigerian con artist scams a poor schmuck into giving him his whole life savings. When the victim ultimately realizes he was scammed, he angrily tracks down the con artist and ends up accidentally killing him by [[EyeScream driving a door hook into the con artist's eye.]]

* ''Series/PersonOfInterest'' turned this into a multi-level MuggingTheMonster. Some gangsters tried to pull this on Leon Tao. However, since he's a very skilled forensic accountant, he was able to steal from them. They were unamused and showed up to kill him, and to his immense surprise were actually Nigerian. Unfortunately for them, he's a ([[ButtMonkey recurring number]]) on Team Machine, so Reese shows up to save him.
* In ''Series/BrooklynNineNine'', Jake is astonished to learn that his dimwitted fellow detective Scully has fallen for over twenty such scams.
* In the seventh episode of the fifth season of ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'', Reese mentions he was "gonna invest [his money] with this Nigerian general who's been sending [him] emails."
* In the tenth and final episode of the first season of ''Series/BetterCallSaul'', during the scams Jimmy and Marco are pulling, Jimmy tells one victim that there is a 27-year-old Nigerian prince named Idi Abbassi who is worth "conservatively, 400 million dollars." Unfortunately for this prince, the dictatorship of [[{{Bulungi}} Equatorial Uqbar Orbis]] is detaining him on trumped-up charges; the Abbassi family will reward whomever helps them get their boy back, but the "hitch" is that the banks have frozen their assets.
* An arc in ''Series/TheNightShift'' shows Olafur falling for one and continuing to believe in it despite everyone around him pointing out that it's a scam. The scam artist eventually shows up at Olafur's workplace, having already flown to Iceland with Olafur's money, and Daniel gets him arrested.
* While hosting ''[[Series/SaturdayNightLive SNL]]'' in 2008, Creator/AnneHathaway joked about her ex-boyfriend, Raffaello Follieri, going to prison for fraud, then gushes about her new boyfriend, a Nigerian prince whom she met on the Internet.

* The song by MCFrontalot in the page quote is about someone who's a little too eager to get a 419 email. See also [[http://frontalot.com/index.php/content.php?page=lyrics&lyricid=19 here.]]

* Nigerian hip hop group [[https://www.discogs.com/artist/286119-419-Squad 419 Squad]] get their name from the scam.

-->'''Roger''': Andy, delete it, it's a total scam.
-->'''Andy''': Gee, you think?
-->'''Roger''': Yup. I'm getting $20 million from a Ugandan for $350.
-->'''Andy''': This is where you say "just kidding..."
* Ratbert fell for one in a ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'' strip. Of course, since the banking information he provided was "My bank is a tube sock that fell behind the dryer", the man on the other end of the scheme couldn't steal any money from him.

* The game ''VisualNovel/RePrinceOfNigeria'' is mainly about a girl who does not get that she is being scammed and even ends up falling in love with this supposed "Prince", played for laughs. In fact, from the get-go she doesn't care one iota about the money and is only interested in pursuing romance with this supposed prince.
* ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' gives Shepard an e-mail account to receive assorted plot-related messages and information, but which also suffers from the usual amount of standard spam e-mail. Apparently in the ''Franchise/MassEffect'' verse, the standard spiel involves [[{{Precursors}} Prothean]] artifacts from [[GhostPlanet Ilos]] being stuck in customs, with a cut of the profits offered to the one who puts up the front money required to get them cleared. It shows up again in ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda'', where it seems to be an import from the Milky Way and targets a party member. Based on conversations you can hear, they may have fallen for it.
* Hawke in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' gets one in the form of an actual letter which is ostensibly from the Seneschal serving Starkhaven's recently-overthrown Vael family. He promises a sum of 10,000 sovereigns if Hawke were to open a bank account in Antiva with 100 sovereigns deposited to make the account viable. Incidentally, the last son of said Vael family is a (DownloadableContent) ''party member''.
* You can find 419 emails in computer mailboxes in ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution''; although they mostly only appear in home [=PCs=], there are a few on the computers of offices and institutions, and you can even find other emails lamenting how the spammers were able to get hold of a corporate email account [[spoiler:including one instance in the top secret Omega Ranch.]]

* In ''VideoGame/HypnospaceOutlaw'', a Hypnospace user sends the player character an e-mail. He claims that a rich person will grant him a submarine if he gathers enough [[FictionalCurrency Hypnocoin]] in time, which would allow him to hunt for treasure that he'd really share with the donors. [[spoiler:He's serious. If you choose to donate to him, he actually acquires a submarine and sets off to find the treasure; he posts his coordinates to Hypnospace, which end up being his last known location before going missing.]]

* In [[http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2003/03/28 this]] ''Webcomic/PennyArcade'' comic, Gabe announces his intent to fly to Holland to meet a Swazi princess he met on the Internet and whose bank account she needs to retrieve her vast fortune:
-->'''Tycho:''' And you're not worried that Nigerian thugs are going to cut off your balls.\\
'''Gabe:''' I'm worried I won't be able to find the bathrooms. Everything's gonna be in Hollish.
* In [[http://www.joyoftech.com/joyoftech/joyimages/898.gif this strip]] of the webcomic ''TheJoyOfTech'', a bank employee encounters a 419 victim and opportunistically asks for a bank fee of her own, which he has to give to her personally.

* In [[http://achewood.com/index.php?date=03052007 this]] ''Webcomic/{{Achewood}}'' StoryArc, Ray gets a Nigerian scam email that [[http://achewood.com/index.php?date=03152007 turns out]] to be an actual plea for help getting money out of the country.
* A strip from ''Webcomic/RealLifeComics'' has Mae Dean looking through her email, which is full of these scams. The email is asking for a monetary donation because the daughter (or other relation) of the sender is suffering from [[SoapOperaDisease some terminal illness]]. Except with each scam email she reads, the sickness gets progressively less severe and the asking amount for the donation progressively more, with the last one asking for a $100 donation for a cold.
* In ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'', Sam is too clever for the scammers:
-->"Aw! Just another scam from some dude claiming to be the Prime Minister of Abscondia trying to drain my bank account! That lame-o doesn't know my account was already drained by the Princess of Scamrobi. But that's OK because she was probably hot."

* ''Webcomic/UserFriendly'': Pitr receives a 419 scam e-mail. He uses his wits and his hacking skills to screw the scammer over.
* ''Webcomic/WallyAndOsborne'' briefly references this [[http://wallyandosborne.com/2005/07/29/the-internet-spam here.]]

* ''Webcomic/TheBedfellows'': Sheen prevents Fatigue from becoming a victim of this in one strip. [[spoiler:Subverted, as there really was a prince after all.]]
* ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'':
** [[http://xkcd.com/1777/ This]] strip has an odd example, in that Black Hat Guy is writing one to his own diary.
** [[https://xkcd.com/1948/ A series of political fundraising e-mails]] ends with one which claims to be from a Nigerian prince who is running for Congress.

* Referenced in the ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' [[PublicServiceAnnouncement PSA]] "Real Life vs. The Internet", comparing getting mail from a mailbox vs. e-mail:
-->'''Simmons:''' Pardon me, my friend, but I am Nigerian royalty, and I need you to send me money. Please ignore the fact that I can not spell "Nigerian" or "royalty".
* ''Website/SomethingAwful's'' Rich Kyanka [[http://www.somethingawful.com/d/email-pranks/email-spam-something.php did his own bit of scam baiting once]] (apparently genuine), just because it's the kind of thing he does when he gets stupid emails.

* Many scambaiting sites have publishing sections where scambaiters regale their exploits, including [[http://www.419eater.com/html/letters.htm 419 Eater]] (and its [[http://forum.419eater.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=10 forum]]), [[http://sweetchillisauce.com/nigeria.html Sweet Chilli Sauce]] and [[http://www.scamorama.com/ Scam-o-Rama]]. Some of the exploits go enough into seemingly DisproportionateRetribution that scambaiters have to remind readers that their targets are criminals to dispel any feelings of pity for them.
* ''Website/SFDebris'' loves to talk about how stupid the Kazon, and particularly Culluh, are on ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''. It reached a zenith of hilarity in the "Basics" review when he mentions that Culluh is getting frustrated, as he has not heard back from that bank manager in Nigeria.

* The series WebVideo/{{Scamalot}} is about its host James' response to such scams.
* The bots of the Website/JollyRogerTelephoneCompany were designed to respond to telemarketers, however, some enterprising scam-baiters figured out that they might be used to engage with this routine as well. They would trick the scammer by responding to their e-mail saying that they don't like to deal over e-mail and only want to respond by phone and then give out the number for one of these bots. Eventually, Jolly Roger creator Roger Anderson picked up on this and designed a couple of bots which are specifically designed to respond to this scam. They will do stuff like saying that they're worried about it being a scam and need reassurance, repeat that they only want to deal by phone and not e-mail and pretend to start reading off a confirmation number, only to stop before they can finish.

* The first ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' feature film, ''Bender's Big Score'', centers on a group of scammers who con the Planet Express business and then use that as a base to scam the whole of Earth. [[OnlySaneMan Hermes]] is onto them from the start, but just about every other character falls for it at least once. Professor Farnsworth catches on that the crew is being scammed... then falls for a claim he won the Spanish National Lottery and is tricked into signing over his company. Weirdly, Dr. Zoidberg claims halfway through the film that he actually ''did'' get the money. Eventually [[spoiler: the scammers are defeated by Bender, who claims he's been working the long con all along.]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'', Sgt. Hatred hints that falling for one of these might have been the final straw that caused his wife to leave him.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "The Princess Guide", Moe falls for one such scam, and when he finds out that Homer is caring for a Nigerian princess while her father is inking a deal with Mr. Burns, Moe assumes her brother is the prince who scammed him.
* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/SkinnerBoys'', the boys manage to scam villain Obsidian Stone into revealing his current location by [[spoiler: sending him a promise of a million dollars to use in his world conquest schemes and tracing his mail reply]].

* In the ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6TheSeries'' episode "De-Based", Fred recieves an e-mail from the royal family of "Spamivia". Clicking the link downloads a virus to Basemax that convinces her she's the Queen of Spamivia, and anyone who says she isn't is a traitor.

* Because of the Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment, no specific cases will be put here, only the scam strategies and stories that are discovered with the added bonus of helping people avoid such pitfalls, for more details, see the [[Analysis/FourOneNineScam Analysis page]].

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Because of the Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment, no specific cases will be put here, only the scam strategies and stories that are discovered with the added bonus of helping people avoid such pitfalls, for more details, see the Analysis page.

* In ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'', Sheldon gets all his items hijacked from his ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' account by a hacker, and Raj finds someone online "from Nigeria" who claims that he can retrieve all the items "for a fee."

In RealLife, the term "419 scam" derives from the relevant section of the Nigerian criminal code; however, it's used to refer to all scams of this kind, even when they don't involve Nigeria or bank accounts at all. The RealLife workings of this trope are explained in greater detail on the [[Analysis/FourOneNineScam Analysis page]]. But to be a trope, it helps to use shorthand, and that's why it nearly always involves a Nigerian with a big bank account he can't access. This Nigerian is also often a prince, even though Nigeria is a republic and not a monarchy (not that the mark would be expected to know this), [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigerian_traditional_rulers although it does have traditional ceremonial "princes"]] (not that the mark would be expected to know that either).

* In ''VideoGame/{{Doom 3}}'', if you took the PDA from Larry Kaczynski, one of his messages contains a 419 scam written by a certain "John Okonkwo" (included in this link [[https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/672365-doom-3-bfg-edition/faqs/31621 here]].

The advance fee fraud, known colloquially as the '''419 scam''', is a form of Internet fraud commonly associated with UsefulNotes/{{Nigeria}} (hence its alternative name, the Nigerian scam). The character is contacted by someone who claims (in [[DelusionsOfEloquence suspiciously shaky English]]) to have a large sum of money which is rightfully his but which he cannot access for various reasons (sealed account, locked trust fund, etc.), and he needs the mark's help to be able to access it. If he helps out, he'll get a substantial share of the money, which could be millions of dollars. To do this, the scammer typically needs the mark's own bank account to help him transfer the money, and he needs some of the mark's own money in advance to help authorize the transfer, bribe officials, or do anything else the scammer can think of. But the money doesn't exist; once the scammer gets the mark's money or access to his bank account, he cuts off all contact. It's basically the SpanishPrisoner scam for the Internet age.

As a trope, though, it's not usually used as a way to drive the overall plot like the SpanishPrisoner scam is; instead, it usually goes to show how stupid or gullible a character is for falling for it. The subversion would thus take the form of the money being real and the other characters being the fools for being too cynical to help out a poor Nigerian prince. A particularly clever character might become a "scambaiter", who pretends to fall for the scam and strings the scammer along until he gets him into a humiliating or compromising situation.

* In ''VideoGame/HypnospaceOutlaw'', a Hypnospace user sends the player character an e-mail. He claims that a rich person will grant him a submarine if he gathers enough Hypnocoin in time, which would allow him to hunt for treasure that he'd really share with the donors. [[spoiler:He ends up being serious.]]

* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' had ''Music/KatyPerry'' as a guest star who played an extremely gullible girl who fell for one of these.

[[caption-width-right:350:{{Meanwhile|Scene}}...[[note]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nigeria_83.png[[/note]]]]