An upfront payment scam is a scam which asks you to send money upfront for a product or reward later. The reward may be in the form of a pre-approved loan or credit card application, a prize, a holiday or a cut of a profit from some activity.

You might be asked to provide your bank account details to the scammer or to pay fees to gain access to what the scammer is offering.. If you send money to these scammers you may find that you receive nothing in return, or that you don’t get what you expected.

Warning signs

• You receive an unsolicited email, letter or telephone call promising you something exciting or valuable for a small upfront payment or fee.
• You are offered a reward such as a prize, a holiday or a pre-approved loan or credit card application.
• The offer involves transferring money for someone else.
• The scammer will tell you that you need to pay an upfront cost such as, an administration fee, taxes or postage and shipping costs.
• The offer arrives out of the blue.
• The reward is much greater than the amount that you are asked to pay upfront.

Protect yourself from upfront payment scams

• Use your common sense: the offer may be a scam.
• Do not send any money or pay any fee to claim a prize or lottery winnings.
• Never send your personal, credit card or online account details through an email.
• Money laundering is a criminal offence: do not agree to transfer money for someone else.

Warning Sign

• You receive an offer out of the blue to ‘help’ someone from another country transfer their money out of their country (eg Sierra Leone, Nigeria or Iraq).
• The offer sets out a long and often sad story about why the money cannot be transferred by the scammer. This usually involves an inheritance or profits from natural resources that the scammer might say they are trying to protect from taxes or a corrupt government.
• You are offered a percentage of the total amount transferred in return for your assistance.
• The amount of money to be transferred, and the payment that the scammer promises to you if you help, is usually very large.
• The email or letter is in very polite, but broken English.

Protect yourself from Nigerian scam

If it looks too good to be true it probably is.

• Remember there are no get-rich-quick schemes: the only people who make money are the scammers.
• Do not let anyone pressure you into making decisions about money or investments: always get independent financial advice.
• Do not open suspicious or unsolicited emails (spam): delete them.
• NEVER reply to a spam email (even to unsubscribe).
• Never send your personal, credit card or online account details through an email.
• Money laundering is a criminal offence: do not agree to transfer money for someone else.

A Nigerian scam is a form of upfront payment or money transfer scam. They are called Nigerian scams because the first wave of them came from Nigeria, but they can come from anywhere in the world. The ‘4-1-9’ part of the name comes from the section of Nigeria’s Criminal Code which outlaws the practice.

The scammers usually contact you by email or letter and offer you a share in a large sum of money that they want to transfer out of their country. They may tell you about money trapped in central banks during civil wars or coups, often in countries currently in the news. Or they may tell you about massive inheritances that are difficult to access because of government restrictions or taxes in the scammer’s country.

Scammers ask you to pay money or give them your bank account details to help them transfer the money. You are then asked to pay fees, charges or taxes to help release or transfer the money out of the country through your bank. These fees may even start out as quite small amounts. If paid, the scammer make up new fees that require payment before you can receive your reward. They will keep making up these excuses until they think they have got all the money they can out of you. You will never be sent the money that was promised.