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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: "Chan Yu" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <changyu849@yahoo.com.tw>
Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2012 08:38:51 +0100
Subject: Rep Needed

Dear Prospective Representative,
I am Chang Yu, I am a Contract analyst with the Taiwan Department of internal affairs.
I want a reliable person to assist me in receiving tips from American Defense contractors that I assisted to approve their contract payments by the Taiwan Government.

The contracts are ongoing and the contractors are been paid their sums monthly. I was promised a tip by the contractors. What I am about to receive now is a kick back/TIP from the contractors and under the code of conduct regulation, as a Taiwanese Government worker, I am not allowed to operate or own foreign accounts, and that is precisely, why I need your assistance.
I want you to receive this tip on my behalf. The tip will be sent to you in the form of a check. All I need from you is for you to confirm your mailing address; your telephone numbers and your name and company name that you want the payment checks to be issued on.
As soon as you indicate your interest by sending to me
the above details, I will instruct the contractor’s agent to issue the checks in your name or company name. On accomplishment of this deal you will be entitled to 12% of any sum that passes through you to me.
Please send to me your address and phone number as shown below.

NAME:
STREET ADDRESS:
CITY:
STATE:
ZIP CODE:
COUNTRY:
MOBILE PHONE:
AGE:
YOUR OWN COMPANY NAME:
OCCUPATION:
POSITION:

Get back to me ASAP, if this is okay with you and I will give you further details.
Regards,
Chan Yu

Anti-fraud resources: