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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: "Michael Petrino" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <michaelpetrino1962@aol.com>
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2011 00:46:50 +0800
Subject: Confidential

Dear Friend,

I am contacting you to see if we can make a deal, My name is Michael Petrino,I discovered an unclaimed inheritance fund in our bank, Actually I don’t have to involve myself officially because of my job, but I know what will be required to release the fund to you.

Please get back to me with the following information via e-mail for more details:
michaelpetrino1962@aol.com



FULL NAME: ............................
CONTACT ADDRESS: ................
NATIONALITY: ........................
PHONE NUMBER: ......................
OCCUPATION:......................
AGE: ...............................
AGE/SEX: ...........................

Best regards,

Michael Petrino

Anti-fraud resources: