Internet-savvy 419 men routinely use emails to source out and target their victims. The availability of email-harvesting software has rapidly turned this local scamming business into one of the biggest industries spanning the world. From the Americas to Europe and even to Asia and Australia, these 419 scammers send out their standard deceiving emails to a mailing list they gathered online.

Bearing their standard, albeit fake information and their scam stories, they send out these emails from internet cafes to hide their identities. They mass-send the emails although recipients would be inclined to think it was sent only to them.

The 419 scams have several elements. It would be wise for you to have a look and see at them and be guided accordingly.

Fake Checks. Scammers usually use fake checks when necessary to falsely gain the trust and confidence of victims. This scheme often takes advantage of the float. The float is that period of time it takes for a check to clear. While the float may take anywhere from 7-10 days for local clearing checks, it could sometimes take months especially when dealing with foreign banks. As is the common practice in the US and in some other countries, banks are to make funds available to the depositor in at most five banking days whether or not the clearing process has been completed. It could take anywhere from three days to several months for the fraud to be discovered.

Untraceable Communication Lines. Scammers usually communicate anonymously, almost untraceable, so it would be difficult to track them down. Watch out for:

• Web-based email accounts. Many free webmail services do not require valid information to identify registrations requests. Such webmails are often used as they can be setup in minutes and can be accessed in internet cafes.

• Email hijacking. Scammers email family, friends and even associates of the legitimate account holder to defraud them. They pose as a friend needing assistance, sending emails from a familiar account. They normally steal login information typically by phishing viruses.

Fake Websites. Email-based scammers wishing to enhance their “credibility” use fake websites. These websites may imitate real ones like PayPal, Ebay and baking websites. Imitating websites is normally done for phishing. But since their goal is to entice the victims to make money transfers through legitimate means, they could create a totally fake website for a fictitious bank to suit their purposes.

Invitation to visit. Some victims get invites to visit a country and allegedly meet with real or pretend government officials. Victims who fall for this trick are held for ransom. In some cases, they're smuggled into the country and threatened to giving up more cash for the penalties of being in the country without official documents. Some victims wind up dead when the ransom is not met.

There are other elements in this business that people must know. But the most important thing to remember is to not be too trusting. It's human to want to be wealthy but it's always good to remember there's no shortcut to it. If it sounds too good to be true, then it must be too good to be true.