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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: "FedEx Corporation" <chrisbrownoffice4@ig.com.br>
Date: Thu, 22 Apr 2010 13:07:52 -0700
Subject: chrisbrownoffice5@ig.com.br Re: Contact

BARRISTER CHRIS BROWN
PLOT 815, RUE 11, COTONOU,
BENIN REPUBLIC,
TELEPHONE: +229-93003728

Estate of my client (Thomas Zeman)

My Dear,

I am highly esteemed to write you this proposal; I am Christian Brown
a solicitor and personal attorney to the above client of mine, An
Engineer with SONACOP. He died a few years ago and left me the
responsibility of locating and transferring $13.4million he left for
his only son. Since then I have made several inquiries to locate his
son only to realize that his son died of drug abuse 2 years ago.

The bank has issued me with a notice as the attorney to the deceased
to provide the next of kin or the account will be suspended
indefinitely within the next 21 official working days. Since I have
been unsuccessful in locating any of the deceased's heirs over the
years, I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin to the
deceased.

As the personal attorney to my late client, I have decided to contact
you to assist in transferring the money left behind by my client to
your bank account before they will be confiscated or declared
unserviceable by his bankers. I have all the necessary legal documents
that will be used to back up the claim. All I require from you is your
honest co-operation to enable us see this arrangement through. I
guarantee that this arrangement will be executed under a legitimate
banking procedure and the provision of the laws concerning inheritance
fund will be strictly adhered to, this will protect you from any
breach of the law. You can get back to me with your opinion through
this email address (chrisbrownoffice5@ig.com.br) so that I will inform
you on what next to do.
Yours Sincerely,
Christian Brown

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