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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: Tour <info@web.com>
Reply-To: nikesam1@live.com
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 2008 08:17:11 +0400
Subject: Congratulation

PUBLISHER CLEARING HOUSE SWEEPSTAKE
176 W Tasman Dr,
San Jose, CA
95134-1706, United States

Congratulation!

Be notified that your email address was randomly selected by computer process at one of our recent Draws for the month of May. Consequently, you have won for yourself the sum of $1, 500, 000 in the Publisher Clearing House Sweepstake! You are strongly advised to treat this information as confidential!

Code Number: cw155
Ref. No.: Pchs/05/079.

To begin the claim process, you are advised to call or Log into your account to verify the status of your account through our telephone banking
system:

@ GLOBAL FANANCIAL on +141 684 81228 ext 3
ACOUNT NUMBER: 100704
PIN NUMBER: 2879

Please contact your account officer for swift transfer of your winning funds;

nikesam1@live.com

Anti-fraud resources: