According to Ultrascan (a Dutch company investigating these scams), Advance Fee Fraud (AFF), also known as 419 scams and Nigerian scams exploded in 2009, with victims losing more money than ever before. These scammers earned more than $9 billion in 2009, these amount bigger than ever before.
419 scams are well known since 1970s and still growing. According to Ultrascan, which analyzed 8,503 cases across 152 countries in 2009, victims lost $9.3 billion in the last year alone, compared to $6.3 billion on 2008.
Till date, more than $40 billion lost and 5 percent growth rate every year. So the victims are increasing, and everyday there are new peoples surfing on internet to be fish (victims) for these scammers. Asia is the biggest victim falling to AFF fraud.
Source: http://www.ultrascan-agi.com/public_html/html/419_statistics.html
–D Senthilkumar.
