The well-known "Nigerian Prince" email scam -- also known as the 419 scam -- seems to be getting a military twist.

I got an email yesterday from a person identifying himself as "Capt. Joe Patton Jr." of the 395th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion in Afghanistan. Seems Capt. Patton needs my help getting a couple of "military trunk boxes" out of Afghanistan and back to the states. He assures me that the project will be "of mutual interest for the both of us and will never expose you to any form of risk."

Funny thing, though. Sure, Capt. Joe Patton Jr. has a name so American it might as well be "General Lincoln Tecumseh Baseball," but his English is pretty bad. As if he's running everything through a translation program. And why does he need my help getting these "military trunk boxes" out of Afghanistan? Aren't there units over there to handle transport and logistics?

The truth is, Capt. Joe Patton Jr. -- at least the one in the email -- doesn't exist. This email apears to be a military variation of the well-known "Nigerian Prince" scam. In that scam, an email is sent to the victim purporting to be from a foreign government official or similarly important person. The scammer claims that he has a large sum of money that, for whatever reason, is trapped in his country. He needs your help to move it.

In return, he promises you a cut of the money, which usually amounts to millions of dollars. The catch? There are bank fees, or attorney's fees, or transfer fees or some such to be paid. If you can just send on a bunch of money to cover those fees, he can transfer all those millions to your account.

So you send the money. And you wait. And after you wait awhile, you realize that you're an idiot. That's right: The random stranger who offered you millions of dollars out of the blue turned out to be lying!

It's a profitable enterprise. Total losses to this scam are hard to calculate, since many victims of fraud feel too foolish at having been taken in to report it. But 419 scams are among the most profitable in the world, according to a South African Police Service report. And according to a Hearst Newspapers report, victims of 419 scams lost an average of $5,100 apiece in 2006.

Now the scammers are playing not just on greed, but patriotism. After all, who doesn't want to help out a soldier? The good news is, avoiding these scammers is simple. Just be wary. If a stranger emails you out of the blue asking for your assistance or making you an amazing offer, it's probably not on the up-and-up.

"Anyone who gets these types of emails should contact the FBI; they've got the lead on the civilian side to investigate these emails," advised Fort Stewart spokesman Kevin Larson in an email to Fort Stewart Patch.

And above all, don't reply. Remember, scammers and con men are the only criminals who require the complicity of their victims to commit robbery. Don't give it to them.

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