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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.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: Rex Dickson <rexdickson01@yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, 17 Jun 2006 00:11:24 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: DEAR VICTIM-FULLNAME


DEAR VICTIM-FULLNAME,
THIS EMAIL YOU RECEIVED FROM ME IS REAL, LEGAL AND RISK FREE, ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS TO FORWARD THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION TO ME: YOUR FULL NAME, TELEPHONE NUMBER, AGE, OCCUPATION AND YOUR FAX NUMBER.

I SHALL GIVE YOU MORE DETAIL VIA TELEPHONE.
HAVE A NICE DAY.
REX DICKSON.


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Anti-fraud resources: