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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: "ECONOMIC & FINANCIAL CRIME COMMISSION (EFCC)" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <paulnelson112@yahoo.co.jp>
Date: Tue, 9 Mar 2010 02:37:48 +0200
Subject: Attn: Beneficiary... Your Compensation of US$2.5Million (Recovery Fund)


This email communication and its attachments, if any, may contain CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION WHICH MAY ALSO BE LEGALLY PRIVILEGED and is intended only for the use of the recipient(s) identified above. The unauthorized review, use, dissemination, distribution, downloading, or copying of this communication or any of its attachments is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please immediately notify the listed sender by reply email, and delete and otherwise destroy all copies
of the communication and all attachments to the communication.


Anti-fraud resources: