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

Fraud email example:

From: "DIRECTOR" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <CLERGYJAMES02@HOTMAIL.COM>
Date: Mon, 1 Feb 2010 05:06:03 -0800
Subject: PLEASE CONTACT OUR CLAIMS OFFICER/AGENT

YOUR EMAIL HAS WON $500,000.00 ONLINE YAHOO LOTTERY/ MICROSOFT ON-LINE
PROMOTIONS . TO BEGIN YOUR CLAIMS, PLEASE CONTACT OUR CLAIMS OFFICER/AGENT
DR.JAMES WILSON

EMAIL ADDRESS:INFO.DRJAMES@MCOM.COM
TEL PHONE: +44-702-405-4572(MON-FRI)

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO FORWARD THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION:

1. NAME
2. TELEPHONE NUMBER
3. AGE
4. COUNTRY
5. OCCUPATION
6. ADDRESS
7. BANK NAME
8. BANK ACCOUNT NUMBER
9. BANK ACCOUNT HOLDER

CONGRATULATION!

BEN BAKER
DIRECTOR,YAHOO CUSTOMER CARE
SUNNYVALE,CA 94089 USA

Anti-fraud resources: