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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: "John Clark" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <john_clark1882@yahoo.com.hk>
Date: Sat, 21 Aug 2010 18:30:38 -0700
Subject: NOTIFICATION OF BEQUEST:

Hello,
Get back to me if interested for details as regards the transfer of $21,000,000.000 to
you. This money initially belong to a late client of mine who died and had no next of
kin in his account-opening package. In other to achieve this, I shall require your:

Full name:
Telephone number:
Direct contact address:

A confirmation of acceptance from you after which I shall furnish you with the full
details of this transaction.

John Clark


E-mail:john_clark1882@yahoo.com.hk
Phone & Fax: 44-704-571 -0846
Office Address
8-10 New Fetter Lane,
London
EC4A 1RS

Anti-fraud resources: