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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: Michel James <marioosi@yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, 27 Oct 2005 16:59:31 +0200
Subject: Help me


Dear Sir:
My Name is Michel James, I am serving in Iraq,I will
disclose/proof my identity to you when it is safe to
do so.

I have to urgently evacuate some money, totaling
US$22,700,000(Twenty-Two Million,Seven Hundred
Thousand US Dollars) clean legal notes,and all in
US$100 bills out of here to a safe country having
found a secure way to do so.

SOURCE OF MONEY:

Some money in various currencies were discovered
concealed in barrels with piles of weapons and
ammunitions at a location near one of Saddam?s old
palaces during a rescue operation several months ago,
and it was agreed by the few of us present that the
money be shared amongst us, this was an illegal thing
to do though, but I tell you what? no compensation can
make up for the risks we are taking with our lives in
this hell hole.

The above figure was given to me as my share, and for
several reasons,concealing this volume of cash here
has been a big problem/source of distraction to me,I
however found a temporary solution with the help of a
UN contact working here, whose office enjoys some
immunity, and was able to get the package to a safe
location entirely out of trouble spot, where they
have been for the past 8 months.

She does not know the real contents of the
packages,and must not know,but believes that they
belong to an Asian American who died in an air
raid, and before giving up, trusted me to hand them
over to his business associate in Europe.

I have now found a secure way of getting the
packageout of Iraq, and request for your assistance to
work with me to complete this. I am ready to give you
US$4M for the role you will play in this, but should
you have reasons to reject this offer, please destroy
this mail as any leakage will be too bad for us.

I will continue with more details as soon as you let
me know your position.But we have to take this up as
soon as possible for reasons I will explain when I
hear from you.Respond to me on email address
(marioosi@yahoo.com).

Please respond to my email as soon as possible.

Sincerely,
James

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