Statistics

A UK presentation at the 2002 International Conference on Advance Fee (419) Frauds reportedly claimed that around 1% of the millions of people who receive 419 e-mails and faxes are successfully scammed. Annual losses to the scam in the United States total more than $100 million, and law enforcement officials believe global losses may total over $1.5 billion

In 2006 the Queensland Police Fraud & Corporate Crime Group reported that 419 scams had defrauded over $7 million from Queenslanders, including financial advisers, lawyers and university professors. One victim had handed over $2.2 million to scammers over the preceding two years.

Harvey Glickman's insightful The Nigerian "419" Advance Fee Scams: Prank or Peril? analysed a set of 419 email messages, which supposedly came from -

Nigeria 80 (41%)
South Africa 35 (18%)
Sierra Leone 16 (8%)
Zaire 11 (6%)
Zimbabwe 10 (5%)

and were attributed to -

64 from widows, heirs, or someone representing
4 from ex-military, most of these numbers rolled into governmental officials as a category
67 from governmental officials
53 bank officials/accountants
2 other company officials

Source

Highest Losses

Over 41 billion US$ to date, 9.3 billion in 2009
Highest Number of Organized Perpetrators

Over 300,000 globally. Growing 5% per annum, faster than ever

Source 2

Source 3

Identity theft last year struck 9.9 million Americans, costing businesses and individuals $53 billion, according to a survey commissioned by the Federal Trade Commission.