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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: "Direct Finance UK" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <wty78@livemail.tw>
Date: Tue, 19 Jan 2010 15:30:11 +0100
Subject: Direct Finance UK

Hello, Did you need a loan to start a firm of your own and you dont have enough capital to finalize it or is your company going down and you need a loan to raise it up again? Here is the answer to your financial problem we lend at 3%, contact us for details. Marketing Dept. Direct Finance UK

Anti-fraud resources: