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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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Fraud email example:

From: "johnson taylor" <johnsontaylor12345@dubaimail.org>
Reply-To: johnsontaylor12345@web2mail.com
Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2005 10:48:07 +0000
Subject: MY FAITHFUL FRIEND

Dear friend,

My names are Johnson Taylor. I’m a 65 years old man. I am British living in
Dubai (united Arab emirate). I’m a merchant and owned two businesses in
Dubai. I’m married with two children. my wife and two children died in a car
accident six years ago. Before this happened my business and concern for
making money was all I lived for. I never really cared about other values in
life.

But since the loss of my family, i have found a new desire to assist
helpless families. I
have been helping orphans in orphanage/ motherless homes. i have donated
some money to orphans in Sudan, south Africa, Cameroon, brazil, Spain,
Austria, Germany and some Asian countries.

Before I became ill, I kept some money, twelve and a half million dollars
$12.5million) to be precise in a long term deposit account in a security
company in Holland. Presently, I’m in a hospital. my doctors told me i have
prostrate cancer that I have a few months to live. it is my last wish to see
this money distributed to charity organizations. Because so much of my
wealth has been plundered by relatives and friends since my illness, I
cannot live with the agony of entrusting this huge responsibility to any of
them.



Please, I beg you in the name of God to help me collect the deposit from
the security company in Holland and distribute it amongst charity
organizations. Use your judgment to distribute the money and keep 10% of it
to yourself. Feel free to reimburse yourself when you have the money for any
cost you incur during the process of collecting and distributing the money
to charity organizations. May the good Lord bless you and your family?

I await your urgent response.

Sincerely,

Johnson Taylor


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