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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: "SNS BANK N.V" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <c-veenstra-7@mail.kz>
Date: Fri, 9 Dec 2011 14:36:16 +0100
Subject: Payment Update.

Reference no: SNS/NL/7049

Dear Beneficiary,

Payment Update

We are pleased to inform you we have received instructions regarding payment of an undiclosed amount to you. We hereby inform you of this payment with the above

reference number.

Kindly note there is need to confirm your status as the beneficiary before we can provide details of this payment.You are hereby advised to reconfirm the below details

to enable further communication.
(a) Your full name (b) Your contact address and (c) Mobile telephone number. Further updates will be sent to you as soon as we receive the requested information.

For security reasons, please treat this payment notification as confidential until advised otherwise.

We thank you for your cooperation

Sincerely yours
FOR: SNS Bank N.V
C. Veenstra

Anti-fraud resources: