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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: "Mr. Charles Henderson" <martin2711_1@gawab.com> (may be fake)
Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2006 05:56:53 -0700
Subject: Thanks for your reply

Hi,
I am one of the transfer officers of Citi Bank, London. Please permit me to make this plea to you and if interested, do not hesitate to get back to me via my email immediately for further action.
Last 5 years, a group of men from Russia were able to move the sum of twenty five million GBP to our branch in London and since then, none of them have shown up to lay claims on the said amount.
Several calls have been made to the owners and none was successful on the numbers given and now I have all the paper work to transfer the funds via our payment office here in London to your account without any trace as all documents will be destroyed by me immediately the transfer has taken place after 5 days of receiving your details.
Please this is very confidential and must not be discussed with anyone else as I have prepared all my documents to resign once transfer is made to your account. Also you will assure me that you will not disappear with the funds hence I make this plea in good faith.
The funds will be shared favourably to avoid greed on both sides. If you are interested, get back to me and we shall get this done.
Please send your response to my private email address martin2711_1@gawab.com or telephone number +447024070366.
yours faithfully,
Mr. Charles Henderson.



Hi,

I am one of the transfer officers of Citi Bank.
My client in the bank wants to make an investment in your country, I seek your assistance to help me.
my.email address martin2711_1@gawab.com

yours faithfully,
Mr. Charles Henderson.



Anti-fraud resources: