Have you recently received an email from overseas saying that somebody wants to pay a large amount of cash into your bank account? Well the chances are it's NOT your lucky day. This is more than likely a 419 spam email. This type of fraud has been widely used by Nigerian scam artists to trick unsuspected people out of their money.

The 419 scam is so-called after the section of the Nigerian legal system that addresses fraud. Another term for it is advanced fee fraud. An example could be that you receive an email saying that somebody wants to transfer a large sum of money into your account. They may say they are a prince trying to get money out of the country. But before they can release the funds, you need to pay a 'fee'. Guess what? You will never see that money again.

Although this sounds simple, people fall for this type of scam every day. The techniques used are becoming more sophisticated and are getting more plausible. The sums being lost in each case could be thousands. Put all the cases together and the amount will go into the millions. It is probably very much under reported because many victims are embarrassed to come forward.

If you find a 419 spam email in your inbox the best thing to do is ignore it. Don't reply to a spammer or get any type of dialogue going. Don't even reply saying 'don't spam me'. You can invest in software that will help cut down on email spam. Mailwasher is a great program for checking your emails before you download them and Norton Internet Security Suite has an antispam feature in addition to protecting against viruses.

Unfortunately it is often the most trusting and helpful type of people that fall for this scam. By knowing what they look like, you can prevent yourself or a loved one from being a victim of 419 spam emails.