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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: grace william <grace0william93@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: <grace0william@hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 1 Jan 2008 21:33:52 +0000
Subject: From Miss Grace William



From Miss Grace William

I know that it will be very surprise to you who we are and why we decided to contact you. In all it is due to our situation that made me and my brother to contact you. My name is Grace Williams and my brother's name is John Williams. We are from Sierra-Leon in West Africa.

Our situation is very pitiful and our condition is very sorrowful due to we are orphans. We lost our father during the civil war in my country Sierra-Leon, the day rebel soldiers came into our house by 4:00AM on that memorable day and took away our father, we never saw him again until after four days his beheaded body was found one kilometre away from our home in Free-town the capital city of Sierra-Leon.

Before his death our father was the director of finance in the Ministry of Mine and Energy between 1994-1998. It was after the death of our father that our mother took us to Abidjan Coté D' Ivoire where we are now. It was unfortunate that our mother died last year 16th of November after battling with cancer for four years. This now left I and my younger brother orphans.

Despite every thing it has not been easy with me and my brother due to pressure coming from our immediate relations. They tried to take away from our mother the little thing our father left before his death. This made my father's brothers to hate our mother because she did not agree to disclose to them where our father financial wealth is kept.

Since the burial of our mother they are on my neck to give them some of my father's documents and personal files. What troubles me most is constant treat to my life. This has made me and my brother to relocate to a unknown place outside Abidjan Capital of Cote d’Ivoire. We are now at a place called BASSAM 10killometers from Abidjan. There we are now. Please our good friend we are in dear need of your help.

I have right now in my hand a certificate of prove of money our father deposited with a security house here in Abidjan Coté d' Ivoire. My mother before her death she told us that the deposit is ten Million five hundred thousand US dollars (US$10.5, 000.000). Our father moves this money out from Sierra-Leon at the middle of the civil war and deposited it in a security house in Abidjan.

Our dear friend our request from you is to help us move this money out from this security house to your country and help us come down to your country and start a new life there. I and my brother will give you 30% of this money as soon as it gets to your custody and 5% will be for any thing you spend to secure this money to your custody. Please I will like to have your information as follows;

1. Your full Name..........,
2. Your cell and fax number........ ,
3. Your home and office address.........,

God bless you as we look forward to hearing from you.Our Regards, Grace and John


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