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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: "jamea otto" <jmotto37@gmail.com>
Reply-To: jamesottobates@yahoo.ca
Date: Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:51:53 +0100
Subject: proposal


Mr. James Otto Bates
Chairman, Ecowas Contractor's
Debt Reconciliation / Appraisal Board,
Eco-Resource Board (ERB).
Accra-Ghana.

Good day,

Account provision for transfer of $45 million USD

My name is Mr. James Otto Bates, Chairman Ecowas contract dept
reconciliation / appraisal boards. I am contacting you to inquire from you
if you can assist me safeguard funds amounting to $45 million United States
Dollars left by our late foreign contractor whose provided address could not
be traced since he died along with his families. You will be presented as
the next of kin to the deceases to enable our organisation transfer the
money to you.

At the end of the transaction, you will be compensated with 30%
of the money. This transaction is 100% risk free but should be kept secret
and confidential due to my position in Ecowas.

I will give you more details about the transaction when I received your
affirmative response. Note: Due to my position now, I have the deceased
contract file with me incase of any question from our organization when the
deal started and also the process to put claim on the funds as the next of
kin will be legally processed to avoid any breach of law of our countries.

Thanks for your understanding, looking forward to hearing from you soonest
and also include your private phone number in your reply for easy
communication.
IF YOU ARE READY TO WORK WITH US.

Yours faithfully,
Mr. James Otto Bates

Anti-fraud resources: