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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.

Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.

Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!

Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.

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Fraud email example:

From: "Federal Ministry of Science and Technology" <abdullahi_aliyu@fmst.gov.ng> (may be fake)
Reply-To: aliyu_bdllh@yahoo.com
Date: Sun, 17 Oct 2004 01:54:29 -0700
Subject: CONFIDENTIAL

Dr. Abdullahi Aliyu,
Permanent Secretary,
Federal ministry of science and technology
Abuja,


Greetings to you,

With warm heart I offer my friendship and greetings, I hope this mail meets you in good time. However strange or surprising this contact might seem to you as we have not met personally or had any dealings in the past, I humbly ask that you take due consideration of its importance After careful consideration i resolved to contact you for your most needed assistance I duly apologize for infringing on your privacy.
First and foremost I wish to introduce myself properly .
I am the permanent secretary,federal ministry of science and technology of the federal republic of Nigeria .I decided to contact you in respective of a transaction at hand theres an over payment draft of $35,000,000(thirty-five million U.S dollars) in the ministry that has been approved and we are looking for a foriegn partner that aid would transfer the money into his or her account.If you can be of help send the your full contact information including phone number .You would also be required to open or provide an account for the transfer of the funds.
30% of the total funds shall be given to you for your assistance i require you to maintain strict confidentiality of this transaction due to the fact that i am still in active service. please reply me with this email address for security reasons aliyu_bdllh@yahoo.com


Yours Sincerely ,
Dr. Abdullahi Aliyu
Permanent Secretary,
Federal ministry of science and technology
Email:abdullahi_aliyu@fmst.gov.ng
http://www.fmst.gov.ng



Anti-fraud resources: