One 2009 study estimated, based only on cases that were reported and therefore almost certainly an underestimation, that victims of 419 fraud lost
$9.3 billion in 2009. This was an increase of $3 billion from the year before, and a follow-up study in 2013 found that the number had jumped to
$12.7 billion. This would make the 419 ‘industry’ roughly the same size as the GDP of
Botswana.
