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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: "Tony Obi" <tonyobi@3darenanet.com>
Reply-To: tonyobixx@yahoo.com.hk
Date: Sat, 07 Jul 2007 10:36:58 +0300
Subject: Compliment of the day to you

Compliment of the day to you

My name is Tony Obi, a consultant in Nigeria. I have a brief
discussion with executives of a top Oil company (Exxon Mobil)
http://www.exxonmobil.com in Port Harcourt Nigeria.

I have a very sensitive and private brief from this top Oil company
executives to ask for your partnership to re-profile funds over
$67Million (Sixty Seven Million United State Dollars).

I will give you the details, but in summary, the funds would be pay to
you via a trust Finance company, and this is a legitimate transaction
and without any government interference.

You will be duly compensated for your "Re-profiling fees", if you and
your company agree to work with us.

If you are interested, please write back and provide me with your
confidential telephone number, and email address and I will provide
further details.

Best Regards,
Tony Obi


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