For those of you unfamiliar with the 419 Scam, a brief description may be of help. The 419 in the name of the scam refers to the section of the Nigerian penal code which addresses fraud schemes. Every day millions of people receive emails similar to this:

Dear Sir/ Madam,
I am fine today and how are you? I hope this letter will find you in the best of health. I am Prince Joe Eboh, the Chairman of the "Contract Award Committee", of the "Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC)", a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
NDDC was set up by the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha who died on 18th June 1998, to manage the excess revenue accruing from the sales of Petroleum and its allied products as a domestic increase in the petroleum products to develop the communities in the Niger Delta Oil producing areas. The estimated annual revenue for 1999 was $45 Billion US Dollars...

Naturally, if you are willing to help the sender get this money then they will share some of it with you. But before you can get your share you will, at some point, be asked to send money for lawyer's fees or some kind of unforeseen tax. Of course, the whole thing is a scam and any money you send will simply disappear as quickly as the perpetrator(s). Whilst this all may sound far fetched, the Police estimate that every year, US citizens alone are conned out of approximately $200 million.

Over the last couple of weeks, TNN has received several emails similar to this:

Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2005 23:43:51 -0700 (PDT)
From: doctor adeyinka <doctoradeyinka@yahoo.com>
Subject: TRUCK MATTERS
To:
Cc:

AM PRINCE ADEMOLA FOWOWE THE ASSISTANT MANAGER OF THE COMPANY.I WAS BORN AT NIGERIA I NEED SOME TRUCK FROM YOUR COMPANY OVERTHERE THIS ARE THE TYPE OF TRUCK NEEDED FROM YOUR COMPANY IVECO DAF BENZ VOLVO WITH ANY OTHER YOU HAVE PLESE DO MAIL ME AND SEND THE PRICES OF THE LORRY TO ME I MEAN THERE QUOTATION FOR ME TO SHOW MY BOSS IS VERY IMPORTANT WE NEED IT VERY URGENT

As the email contains all the hallmarks of a 419 Scam, we obviously haven't replied and have no intention of doing so. However, if we are receiving such targeted emails we realised that many of you may also be and so thought it best that we brought this nefarious scheme to your attention. If Prince Ademola is genuine in his requirement then we are sure that he will contact us to complain about this article, somehow we don't think he'll be calling.

419 Eater