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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

.

From: "Paypal.com" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <Service@intl.paypal.com>
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2012 04:35:50 -0800
Subject: Alert: You have unread message

 

Confirm or Reject Online Transaction.

Dear customer,

This message is for you to confirm or reject the transfer booked for Wednesday 25th of January.

No action is necessary unless this activity occurred without your knowledge or permission.

We are committed to keeping your account and personal information safe and secure. We recommend that you protect your personal information. To cancel or authorize this transfer please click on the link below to verify ownership of account.

To Verify your PayPal online records Click Here.

Remember Failure to verify your account details will lead to processing of money transfer.

Thank you for using PayPal

Anti-fraud resources: