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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: "Karen Clark" <pete_yun24@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: karenclark600@hotmail.com
Date: Thu, 15 Jul 2010 12:05:45 +0200 (CEST)
Subject: Dear Counsel

Dear Counsel,

My name is Karen. I am contacting your firm in regards to a divorce
settlement with my ex-husband (Dave Baker) who resides in your
jurisdiction. I am currently on a christian mission in Asia mountainous
region of Tibet, western China's Qinghai province "Christians
Working/Winning Souls For Christ" and "greater good" organization.

We had an out of court agreement for him to pay $378,450.00 plus legal
fees before June 16th,2009. He has only paid me $44,000 since .I am hereby
seeking your firm to represent me in collecting the balance from him. He
has agreed already to pay me the balance but it is my belief that a Law
firm like yours is needed to help me collect payment from my ex-husband or
litigate this matter if he fails to pay as promised like he has done a
couple of times in the past.

Sincerely,

Karen Clark.

Anti-fraud resources: