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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: <office02@centrum.sk>
Date: Tue, 05 Apr 2011 11:36:21 +0200
Subject: Reply for more details.


 
I am Barrister Andrew Norton, I got your contact through my personal search.I am making this contact to you in respect to my late client ,He is a national of Australia but spent all his business years here in Benin Republic of west Africa.
 
my client is a crude oil consultant and deposited some funds in a Security company. Since the death of my client, I have made enquiries to his country embassy in order to locate any of his relatives and present the person to the security company as his next of kin, as I am the only person that has all the legal authority and power to provide my client next of kin, but unfortunately all my legal enquiries failed.
 
The security company sent me a notice, notifying me that I have little time to provide his next of kin or they will have the funds confiscated by their authority.Since I have failed in all the enquires that I made in order to locate my client’s next of kin, I have decided after several years of thought to look for a trusted and reliable foreigner whom I will present to the security company as my client’s next of kin so that the funds will be released to him as the next of kin.It is risk free and very easy to execute.If you can be trusted and willing to stand as my client’s next of kin, let me know immediately so that I will proceed.
 
I assure to back you up with every documents related to this deposition, as the security company will require them from you for confirmation, proving that you are really the next of kin. All you need to do is to follow my advises and directions and then leave other legal and official steps for me.We will discuss the sharing ratio as we proceed.Reply through my private email for security reasons:barristerandrewnorton@y7mail.com
 
Yours faithfully,
Barrister Andrew Norton 

Anti-fraud resources: