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Welcome to Artists Against 419

The Internet is great, isn't it? It's a magical place, where you can buy anything you want, meet new people, find information... and lose all your money to scammers.

We've never liked that last part, so we started to fight back. Over time our art has evolved, and we now maintain the largest online repository of web sites used in internet fraud.

We offer a complete public interface for our site visitors, as well as database access through webservices which can be used for automated retrieval of fake bank entries. Web browser toolbars use our database feed to warn users that a site they visit is a fake company run by scammers. But most importantly, we continue to build better relations with other anti-fraud organizations and webhosting companies, to pursue our goal of ridding the Internet of fraudulent web sites.

Related pages

• FAQ and Support
• What is 419?
• Is this a legit site? Use some Online search tools to help identify fraud
• Links to other sites
• Fanmail
• Fake banks and Web sites in the news
• Old Coaster's List of Bank Regulators around the World

Announcement:Internet Systems Consortium

We would like to thank Paul and Robin Laudanski of Castlecops for their support and assistance of aa419 and wish them bon fortune in all their future endeavors. We will greatly miss the Castlecops forum.

We look forward to forging new relationships in 2009 with other anti-fraud allies.

We are very pleased to now be under the ISC umbrella and thank them for their ongoing support of our efforts by providing server space, security and technical support.

Internet Systems Consortium, Inc. (ISC) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) public benefit corporation dedicated to supporting the infrastructure of the universal connected self-organizing Internet—and the autonomy of its participants—by developing and maintaining core production quality software, protocols, and operations.

Announcement: Anti Phishing Working Group

We believe that open communication between all companies and groups involved in the fight against internet fraud is the only way to combat it.

To that end, the Artists Against 419 are pround to announce their membership of the Anti Phishing Working Group (APWG), and look forward to co-operating with its many members. Our main focus of work will remain fake websites used in Advance Fee fraud, but we aim to share our knowledge where possible.

For more information on the APWG, please click on their logo above.

Announcement: DomainTools.com

DomainTools.com is an excellent resource for learning more about the background of a web site: who hosts it, who registered it, its history, and so on. The majority of its services and tools are free, but with registered accounts you get access to a lot of additional "power" tools. The Artists recommend it for anybody seriously interested in web site research. Take a look for yourself...

Artists Database Used in Firetrust Sitehound Software

That's right, the Artists are one of the Community Groups whose information is used by Firetrust's recently released toolbar. Of course we are very pleased that years of hard work in putting together our database are being put to some greater use! But most importantly, there's now a way for thousands of internet users to be immediately warned that they're being targeted by scammers. Nothing fights 419 fraud like public awareness!!!

Please see the User's Guide for usage and configuration help. This guide here is a good summary about formatting, tips and tricks, etc.