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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: "Wang Yan" <microav2@ymail.com>
Reply-To: ywang74@yahoo.cn
Date: Wed, 21 Sep 2011 11:54:03 -0400 (CLT)
Subject: RE:

Good day,
I am Wang Yan, a staff of Private Banking Services at the Bank of China,
United Kingdom . I am contacting you concerning our customer and, an
Investment placed under our banks management 4 years ago.
Kindly respond to my email as soon as possible so that I can give you
more details.
I await your response
Wang Yan


Anti-fraud resources: