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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.

 

 

Fraud email example:

From: goldreeflotto@webmail.co.za
Date: Sat, 16 Jul 2005 13:40:02 +0200
Subject: Lottery Winning Notification

ATTENTION

RE/ AWARD NOTIFICATION; FINAL NOTICE

We wish to inform you of the lottery draws held 17th
July,2005 to declare the winners of the GOLDREEFLOTTO
SOUTH AFRICA/INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS.

Your company, attached to ticket number
356-00098-3211-205, with
serialnumber 818-09 drew the lucky numbers
34-41-27-46-49-37, and
consequently won the lottery. You have therefore been
approved for a lump sum pay out of RANDS 14,000,000.00
in cash Equivalent USD $2,000,000,00 credited to file
REF NO: ZAR/23467677/2005. This is from total prize
money of RANDS 154,000,000.00 shared among the eleven
international winners in this category. All
participants were selected through a computer ballot
system drawn from 17,000 names from Australia, New
Zealand, America, Europe and Middle East and Asia as
part of our International Promotions Program, which is
conducted monthly.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Your fund is now available for claim. Due to the mix
up of some numbers and names, we ask that you keep
this award strictly from public notice until your
claim has been processed and your money remitted to
your account. This is part of our security protocol to

Anti-fraud resources: