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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: Tina Johnson <tina.yy20@yahoo.com> (may be fake)
Reply-To: tina.yy20@sify.com
Date: Wed, 25 May 2011 14:54:31 -0300
Subject: Dearest One

Dearest One, I am introducing my self as John Johnson and my junior sister as tina Johnson,I write this letter for myself and on behalf of my junior sister.We are the children of late Mr and Mrs Lawrence Johnson,We wish to request for your assistance in a financial transaction. And we wish to invest in Manufacturing and real estate management in your country. We have Twelve Million Five hundred thousand United States Dollars(US$12.5m ) to invest in your country, and we will require your assstance in receiving the funds in your personal/company account for investment, We will be glad to give you 20% of the total sum for your assistance. Please it is very important that you contact us immediately for further explanation on how we will proceed. .I am waiting for your urgent reply, Thanks and remain blessed, John and tina

Anti-fraud resources: