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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "Tony x" <tonywix1@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: tonywixprivate@myway.com
Date: Sun, 18 Feb 2007 01:22:44 +0000
Subject: urgent attention


Do accept my sincere apologies if
my mail does not meet your personal ethics. I will introduce myself as
Mr tony, a staff in the accounts management section with one of the
prime Banks here in the United Kingdom One of our accounts with
holding balance of (Ten Million Dollars) have been dormant and have not been
operated for
the past four (5) years. From my investigations and confirmations, the
owner of this account, a foreigner by Name Christian Eich died in
July, 2000 see this:
http: //news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stm
and since then nobody has done anything as regards the claiming
of this money because he has no family members who are aware of the
existence of neither the account nor the funds. I have secretly
discussed this matter with a senior official of this company and we
have agreed to find a reliable foreign partner to deal with. We thus
propose to do business with you, standing in as the next of kin of
these funds from the deceased and funds released to you.
you will take twenty percent of the whole money.

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Anti-fraud resources: