Greg's Corner

Old scam updated for current events

By Greg Collier

One of the oldest internet scams, if not the oldest, is the 419 scam. It was named the 419 scam after the legal code that outlaws the scam. It’s also known as the Nigerian Prince scam. Back in the dial-up days, scammers would send emails to their victims claiming to be a deposed prince from Nigeria. The emails would say that the fictitious prince was in exile, and needed the email recipient’s help getting his fortune out of the country. In return, the prince promised the recipient a good-sized fortune. This usually required the recipient’s financial information, payments to the prince to help him get his money, or both. While this scam has largely been relegated to the dustbin of history, some scammers have resurrected it with a current twist.

According to reports, an email is circulating, claiming to be from the widow of a photographer who was recently killed in the current conflict in Ukraine. The name of the photographer is real, and he did lose his life in the ongoing struggle. The email goes on to say that the widow is dying in a Polish hospital and needs help getting their fortune to various charities. The recipient is then asked to email back, so the widow can release the money to them. While it’s not clear if anyone has fallen victim to the scam yet, it’s almost a guarantee it works exactly as the 419 scam mentioned above. Once again, this shows how scammers will use any tragedy or crisis to their advantage.

This is a pretty easy scam to avoid. If you get this email, do not reply to it. Just delete it instead. This scam falls under the category of ‘there’s no such thing as a free lunch’. If a wealthy person was in need of moving money out of country, they wouldn’t email random strangers on the internet for help. People with that kind of money already have safeguards in place if a crisis like this were to befall them. They probably also have teams of people to make sure those transactions go smoothly. So, if someone you know tells you they’re waiting on a Ukrainian widow to send them a big payday, try to break the news to them gently.