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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
• "Is that email a scam?" - Check it online here!
  
• Frequently asked Questions (419 FAQ)
• Phone numbers used by 419 scammers
  (+225 +229 +234 +27 +31 +32 +34 +44 other)
• Company names mentioned in 419 spam:
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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.

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:

• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "contact me immediately" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
  • "cotonou" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
• This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
  

Fraud email example:

From: "Mrs. Nafisat Ali" <mrs.n.ali2008@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2008 13:17:16 +0200
Subject: Dear faithful One


Dear faithful One
Compliment of the season,With due respect and humility, I write to you
irrespective of the fact that you don't know me. I got your contact through
the
international directory on internet when I was making inquiry for foreign
assistance.
I have decided to contact and bestow trust in you, which I pray you will not
ignore. I apologize in advance for any inconveniences that this proposal may
cause to you. Handle this discretely and contact me urgently if you can
assist me in this transaction I am Mrs. Nafisat Ali, of Repulic of Benin,
widow to Late Mr. Usman Ali (for Consular of the benin embassy in
Madrid,Spain.I have been
recently been daigonosed of Cancer of the Pelvics. I am writing from my
sickbed.
There is this amount of US$20.5Million my husband deposited with a Bank,
here in Cotonou, Republic of Benin of which I am the next of kin. With my
health condition and because my husband and I have no children, I am looking
for a credible person to whom I will pass the right of next of kin. This
person will apply to the Bank and request, from them, the procedure towards
receiving the money.
This is on the condition that you will take 20% of the fund for yourself,5%
used for expenses, while you will use the remaining 75% for the less
previlege people in the society. This is in fulfilment of the last request
of my husband: that a substantial part of the fund be used to carter for the
less previleged.
If this condition is acceptable to you, you should contact me immediately
with your full names and contact information so that I will give to you the
Bank's contact information to enable you contact them directly.
I cannot predict what will be my fate by the time you will recieve the
fund,but you should please ensure that the fund is used as I have described
above.
I look forward to your response.
Yours,
Mrs. Nafisat Ali

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam