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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: "Collins Mark" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <collinsmark443@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 21 Mar 2010 08:04:39 +0700
Subject: [Spam] TRANSFER OF FUNDS


This message has been scanned by your Blue iQ internet
gateway and has been identified as possible spam. The email has been
included as an attachment, and a summary provided here to help you
determine if the message is genuine or not.

Content preview: Citizens Bank Plc 16B Akin Jolayemi Crescent Victoria
Island Lagos Dear Friend, I am Mr. Collins Mark, the newly appointed
Branch Manager of Citizens Bank Plc I wish to know if we can work
together. I would like you to stand as the beneficiary to my deceased
client Mr. Morris Thompson, who made some deposits of $25million (twenty
five Million United States Dollars) with my bank. You can visit this web
site to confirm my information's to you at [...]

Best regards,

Internet Security Team,
Blue iQ
http://www.blueiq.com.au



Anti-fraud resources: