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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: Smith Shaw <shawsmith234@yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2007 05:30:25 -0800 (PST)
Subject: VERY URGENT


Dear Frau Kirsch,

How are you today? I am very happy now. Barrister Ben Eric, called me on phone today and he told me that you do not have to be worried, that he has a friend that is working in a loan company that can help us with any amount of money to get the $15M transfered to your account. What you have to do now is to urgently reach Barrister Ben Eric with the information he is asking from you so that he will be able to get the paper work in place so that you can contact the bank and find out how much it will cost to get the $15M transfered to your account.

Please, do that urgently.

Smith.


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